Changed Fates
by Cremetome
Summary: What if Rudolf did not decide to send Alm with Mycen? What if he stayed in Rigel, and was raised with Berkut and Rudolf? What if Celica stayed in Ram?
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

Emporor Rudolf was sitting by the fire in the sitting room. He was wondering what to do woth the new addition to his familly. Who was a boy by the name of Alm.

He did not know what he wanted to do with him. On one hand he wanted to ensure his safety, but on the other he wanted his son to grow up happily with a familly.

Then he made his decision. He would ensure his safety by protecting him here. In his palace where he could always keep an eye on him. Not to mention the fact that he could grow up with a familly that was truly his.

"Emporor Rudolf," One of his loyal servants began. "do we need to send a messenger to Sir Mycen?" His servant inquired.

"No." Emporor Rudolf said with confidence. "I will keep him here," He continued "and he will be raised in Rigel." The emporor completed his sentence.

"As you wish my lord." The servant said as he backed out of the dimly lit room.

Though Rudolf knew, deep down in his heart that a lifetime of peace would not last forever.

I know, it is really terrible, and short, and just awful in general. But I promise that the chapters will get linger and will have better writing. I am just awful at starting stories.

If you have any comments please tell me, and if you have any criticism tell me. I am welcome to all things, please flame me all that you like. I would love it if any body even payed attention to this story.


	2. Chapter 2

"Lord Alm." A distant voice rang in his ears. "Lord Alm wake up." Alm's butler's voice rang in Alm's ears as he tried to awaken him.

"I am getting up." Alm stated groggly, and then continued "You do not have to yell at me." He finished his scentence.

"But it is the only way to wake you up efficiantly, milord." The butler said. "Also I was not yelling I was speaking loudly." He said with a smirk.

"I know." Alm said. "What is going on today, Mincent?"

"On todays schedule there is the meeting with Emporor Rudolf, lord Berkut, lady Rinea, and the generals about the war strategies," Mincent told his young lord then continued his scentence "After that you have tea with Lady Rinea and Lord Berkut in the gardens." Mincent completed his lords schedule for the day.

"That is all?" Alm asked his butler.

"Yes milord. Should you need anything you know where to find me." The servant said.

He then left Alm to think about the day that awaited him.

Berkut and Rinea were waiting out side of Alm's room. They were doing this because Alm was always the last one awake, and he was also the last to all meetings.

"What do you think the war council is going to do?" Rinea asked Berkut.

"I believe that the decision will be for us to go to castle Zofia, and speak to Desaix about the rebellion there." Replied Berkut.

"Who all do you think will be accompanying us on this journey if that is what happens?" Asked Raines.

"Probably some soilders and part of the Duma faithful."

"Hmm..."

"What are you thinking about Rinea?" Berkut Asked his lover.

"I am just wondering if Alm is ready to be sent to war. He has always been so kind," Rinea said before continuing her scentence "so I worry that he won't be ready to fight other people."

"You should not worry about him too much. He is a strong kid, and he will know what to do."

"I know, I just wish that there wasn't so much fighting involved." Rinea said with a sigh.

"It will all be worth it in the end." Berkut told her.

Then, Alm came out of his room and saw that Rinea and Berkut were waiting for him.

"Sorry about being slow." Alm said as he walked up to them.

"Don't worry about it, Alm, as long as we are not late to the meeting." Berkut told his younger cousin.

"Come on you two," Rinea said with a smile "we should get going before we are late"

"Therefore, I believe that we should send a small party to ensure that our hold on Zofia castle does not falter." General Rengal said to the room.

"If we do send this party who should be in it? We can't just send random soilders, but we can't send a general either." Said another.

"Uncle," Berkut began "I would be willing to take a small group with me to ensure our hold over the castle."

"Who all would be in this party that you would take?" Asked Emporor Rudolph.

Berkut contemplated it for a moment, then said "I would take Rinea, Hestia, and Alm with me to Castle Zofia."

"Why would you pick this group of people with you?" Asked Rudolph.

"If things do take a turn for the worst at the castle then Rinea and Hestia would be able to distract the rebellion whilst Alm and I would create a plan with Desaix and Slade."

"Very well, Berkut. You will set out in two hours. Generals, return to your posts." Rudoph said this as he rose from his seat.

Then Rudolph said "Alm, come with me."

Alm followed his father out the door, and as he passed Berkut and Rinea they told him that once he was done speaking with his father to begin packing.

Alm then followed his father to the throne room. His father sat in his throne, and sighed. "Alm," Alm's father said his gaze lowering to his child"I hope you know that you don't have to do this if you are not ready."

"Don't worry, father." Alm said. "I am ready to fight for my homeland." Alm reassured his father with a smile.

"Son, that is not what I am worried about." Rudolph told Alm.

"Then what are you worried about?"

Rudolph sighed again and looked away before returning his gaze to his son. "It's... nothing. Nothing." Redolph said whilst looking away from Alm again. "Just... be careful around Hestia."

"I will... father" Alm said whilst turning to go out of the throne room.

Meanwhile... in a faraway place...

Celica awoke from her slumber to the light shining through her window. She stretched her arms as she stood up.

She yawned as she went to her small wardrobe, and put on her dress. The dress was gold colored, and went to her upper thigh. It had fur lacing the bottom, and a long piece of fabric that went between her legs down to her ankles. Celica then pulled on her boots that went up to her knee. She then put on her metal breastplate, and shoulder plates. Right before she left her room, she put her leather belt on.

After she finished putting on her ensemble, she went down the stairs, and into the kithen area.

"Good morning Grandpa Mycen." Celica said cheerfuly as she passed him.

"Good morning to you as well, Celica." Mycen replied to Celica. "Anything going on today?" Mycen asked Celica as she got an orange out of the bowl on the counter.

"Nothing out out of the ordinary." Celica told Mycen as she began to peel her orange with a small knife that she had in her belt.

"That's what you always say Celica." Mycen said looking at her.

"Well that's whats always happening." Celica replied with a small laugh as she walked out the door with her peeled orange.

"Yes," Mycen paused " I suppose that you have a point there Celica."

"I'm going out with Faye." Celica called out to Mycen.

"Goodbye."

Celica walked out of Mycen's house, passing the orange tree, and heading towards the town square.

Once she was at the square she saw Faye standing by the tavern.

"Hello Celica." Faye said.

"Hi."

"Do you want to-"

Before Faye could finish her scentence Tobin ran up to them and said "Celica, Faye! There you are! I was looking for you two."

"Whats going on Tobin?" Faye asked.

"Theres a soilder!" he exclaimed with excitment.

"Are they like the last soilder that was her?" Celica asjed with concern evident in her voice.

"No! This soilder is part of a rebellion!"

((((((((((((((End of Chapter))))))))))))))

I am so sorry that this took so long.

Yes in my world Rinea will do something. And before people mention it tes there will be differences in Alm and Celica's character. They just aren't evident yet. I have planned out this story, and just so you all know that it may take me forever, but I will never abandon a story.


	3. Chapter 3

"A rebellion?" Questioned Faye.

"Yeah!" Tobin exclaimed. "A soldier fighting for a rebellion against Rigel," Tobin paused "it's kinda strange that they would come to Ram of all villages."

"Yes." Celica said with agreement. "Do you know what he is doing here?"

"Nope! Do you want to come see him?"

"Yes!" Faye yelled to Tobin.

The three children of Ram ran to the gates, where they saw Kliff and Gray waiting for them along with a man in red armor and red hair.

"There you are Celica, Faye. We were waiting for you two to come, but you just didn't." Gray said with an annoyed but happy tone.

"How were we supposed to know that there was going to be a soldier here!" Faye argued back to Gray.

"I dunno! How about just comong over to the gates?!"

"How about we stop fighting, and actually talk to this soldier?" Celica said with a smile.

They all walked over to the soldier and asked him what he was doing there.

"Ahh... Yes I was looking for Sir Mycen. He does live here, right?" He asked.

"Yes he does, but what is your name?" Asked Kliff with wary eyes.

"Oh. Pardon me. I should have told you my name before I asked about Sir Mycen. I am Lukas. A soldier of the Deliverance." Lukas said politely.

"Nice to meet you Lukas, but what is the Deliverance?" Faye questioned.

"The Deliverance is a group of Zofians that wish to fight against Lord Desaix's rule."

"Lord Desaix? What does he have to do with anything?" Celica asked with interest.

"I suppose you all have not heard yet. I hate to be the bearer of dreadful news, but King Lima IV was killed by Chanceller Desaix." Lukas said with a frown.

"Bless the mother... there's an actual war in Zofia!" Gray exclaimed.

"And thats not all," Lukas began with an even larger frown "Desaix also sold Zofia's throne to the Rigellian Empire. When the king was killed Rigel's army seized the castle."

"So... basically Zofia is in the hands of a bunch of tyrants? Great." Gray said with a sigh.

"There is still hope though. Sir Clive formed the Deliverance which hopes to eliminate Rigel's control over the Zofian throne." Lukas said. "But our soldiers are losing the war, and we need a hero to inspire them. That's why I came here. To get the help of one of the greatest heros, Sir Mycen."

"Mycen is a war hero?!" Exclaimed Tobin is shock.

"Yes, and I must go to see if he will aide the Deliverance in the war." Lukas said with a straight face.

"I will show you where he is." Celica told Lukas.

"Thank you."

"Alm." Hestia called with a dead tone. "Are we departing soon?"

"Yes, just... after I... finish getting... Berkuts horse to do what I say!" Alm said out of breath as he pulled his cousin's horse out of the stables.

"Alm, you could just ask the guards to retreive Luthin." Berkut smirked as he watched his horse purposly disobey Alm.

"But this will help me get stronger!" Alm smiled once the horse was out of the stables.

"Are we ready to depart?" Hestia deadpanned as she mounted the horse that was loaned to her.

"Yes, once Rinea is ready." Berkut replied to Hestia coldly.

"You don't have to be so cold, my prince." Rinea smiled sweetly at Hestia, Alm, and her fiance.

"Ahh... I suppose not." Berkut brought out a complient horse. "Here, let me help you."

As Berkut helped Rinea onto her horse, Alm got onto his, and began to think about what his father had said to him earlier.

'Why would I have to worry aboit Hestia?' Alm thought with a frown. 'She has always been a little weird... But she never was mean to me...'

"Strange..." Alm muttered under his breath.

"Whats strange?" Hestia suddenly asked from behind him.

"GAHHH!" Alm yelled out attracting Rinea and Berkuts attention. "Hestia don't scare me like that." Alm told the purple lady with a light blush of embaressment.

"I apologise." Hestia gazed at him.

"It is time to go" Berkut informed the party as he glanced at the sun, and began to ride out with Rinea towards the border of Rigel."We need to leave now if we want to reach the border by sunset tomorrow."

"Yeah." Alm replied as he began to follow his cousin, with Hestia behind him.

The quartet rode away from the castle of Rigel, towards their fate in the land of Zofia.

 _To be continued..._

AN: I am aware that this is a short chapter. But I really liked the ending so... Its a short chapter, but I have really felt like wroting lately so I should be writing more stuff...


	4. Chapter 4

"Unnngggnhhh..." Mae yawned as she stretched her arms above her head. She slowly got up and rubbed her eyes clear of sleep. The girl got dressed, and did her hair up into pigtails.

Once Mae was ready she walked out of her room to see if the others were awake. The priests, saints, clerics, and Genny were awake.

"Boey is STILL the last one awake!" Mae exclaimed sitting next to Genny, who was drinking tea.

"Yes, it appears that way." Genny softly replied to her friends outburst.

" Even on an important day like this that boy is always going to be the last person awake." Mae leaned on the palm of her hand, and sighed. " I can't believe that we are already going on a quest."

"I cannot believe it either." Genny took a sip of her tea.

"I am SO excited though!" Mae got a piece of bread, and took a bite. "It is not every day that we get to go on a quest in the name of the mother."

"Geeze Mae," A young boys voice was heard behind them. "Do you have to be so loud this early in the morning?" Boey took a seat across from the two girls.

"Well maybe if you got down here earlier I wouldn't have anything to complain about!" Mae countered the new arrival.

"Can you two please not fight today." Genny quelled the argument before it began.

"Yeah! Not even you are going to take my mood down today Boey!" Mae exclaimed happily.

"For once I agree with you. This day is going to be perfect." Boey nodded his head.

"So let's hurry up and go get our mission!" Mae grabbed Boe's wrist, and began to drag him along.

"But, wait a second Mae! I still have to eat!"

Genny sighed as she watched her two friends talk. She had just wanted a peacful morning for once.

Once Boey had finished eating his half of bread, the trio began to head to the head preist to get their quest.

They headed to the main chambers of the chapel, where they saw the man that had raised them for a long time.

"Ah." The elderly preist, father the childeren called him, waved at the three people entering the room. "Ot is good to see that you are all excited."

"You bet we are!" Mae laughed as she ran up to hug her elder.

Boey followed after Mae, and gave a quick nod the the cleric that was in the room. "I cannot wait!" Boey exclaimed as he went to stand next to the preist as his hair was ruffled by said preist.

"Well," The preist gave Genny a side hug when she walked up to him. "I suppose that it's goo your all excited. This is a very important quest."

"We are ready!" Mae and Boey proclaimed. Genny simply smiled.

"Good, your job is to journey to the land of Zofia, and find Princess Anthiese" The man said with an air of wisdom about him.

"You mean the lost princess of Zofia right?" Mae furrowed her eyebrows. "The one that died in a fire?"

"Yes, but she did not die that day. She escaped, and ran away to an unknown location."

"An unknown location? Why do we need to get her if she is safe?" Genny spoke softly, but clearly.

"Because unrest is occuring in Valentia, and the people will need someone to guide them. Princess Anthiese will be that person."

"How are we supposed to find her if we do not even know where to look?" Boey asked.

"Simple. You look at her hands."

"Her hands?" The trio asked.

"Yes, she has a birthmark on her hand."

"What does this birthmark look like?" Boey crossed his arms.

"It looks like a rhombus." The belfry outside began to ring, and they knew that they had to leave soon. "I wish you all good luck."

"Bye!"

"We'll be back."

"Farewell..."

The three of them left for the exit of the chapel just as the belfrys ended their chiming. They left the chapel, headed towards the graveyard, to the town, and beyond.

{Line Break}

Celica did not get why her grandfather refused to help people who were obviously in need of assisstance. Lukas had just returned, and informed them all that Mycen had refused to help the Deliverance in their journey to free castle Zofia of its captors.

Celica pondered why this was the case when, all of the sudden, she got a marvelous idea. She would go instead of Mycen.

Celica, now with a decision in mind, had yelled out to the soldier that was leaving the town. "Wait!" Lukas turned when he heard Celica yell for him to halt his movements. "Lukas, I want to go in my grandfather's place." Celica smiled.

Lukas looked shocked at Celica's offer. "Why would you want to do that?"

"I need to do it to prove that Mycen is no coward, and that he instilled his courage in his grandaughter." Celica looked Lukas right in the eye as she proclaimed this.

Gray put his arm aroung Tobin as he said, "If Celica is going then we are going to!"

Tobin pushed Gray away and said that he would have to think about it before he went to join a war.

"I don't know... This may not be a good idea..." Kliff shook his head at the others.

"Oh, come on Kliff!" Faye clapped her hands together "It could be fun if we all joined!"

"Yeah," Tobin narrowed his eyes "all of us getting impaled on the same lance WOULD be a cool way to go I guess. I need to think about this." Tobin walked away from the gates, and towards the town square where his family wads shopping.

"You should all take your time, an think about this decision before you leave." Lukas' head turned to Celica "And you should at least say goodbye to Mycen before you join."

"Right."

"We'll all meet back here once we've made our decision." Gray adressed the others.

Celica ran back to the house that her and Mycen dwelled in, but once she got there she could not find anybody.

Celica cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted as loud as sge could "Grandpa!" She ran over to the orange tree, and around the back of the house, shouting for her grandfather.

Celica entered the house, the door making a squek of protest as it was opened.The kitchen was just as it had been when she left that morning. There was not another soul in the house.

Once she fully circled both around and inside of the house, she turned back to return to her friends.

"So, Celica, did you get to say goodbye to Mycen?" Faye questioned Celica.

"He wasn't there..." Celica sighed.

"We have been here longer than we should have." Lukas frowned "I wish I could give you time to say goodbye."

"Is anyone other that Celica coming with me?" Gray rose an eyebrow.

"I am." Faye stood next to Lukas.

"I need the money, so I guess I'm in."

"I wish I could..." Kliff looked upset, and kicked a rock that was near him.

"What!?" Tobin gasped in mock suprise. "Poor ickle Kliffie boy dosen't get to leave the sheltered walls of Ram! Shocker."

"Hey!" Faye and Gray both began to scold Tobin.

"Just because Kliff's grandmother dosen't let kliff do anything does not mean that you can be rude to him." Faye flicked her hair over her shoulder.

"Yeah, it's not his fault that his family is full of over protective motherhens."

"You all are acting childish. It's fine. I understand why my family won't let me go." Kliff crossed his arms over his stomache.

"Still that sucks." Tobin groaned "That's one less person to be impaled on the lance."

Faye slapped Tobin and said "Hey, it's no wonder they aren't letting him come if you talk like that."

"Stop fighting, this may be the last time that we see Ram for a while." The fighting ceased when she said this.

"We need to leave." Lukas began to walk to the gates that led out of the safety of Ram, with the taanagers of Ram following behind him.

{To Be Continued}

I have a reason for not bringing Kliff to the Deliverance.

I will try to include all of the characters that are mentioned in Echos without it being to much like a copy of the original.

Merry Christmas!* (


	5. Chapter 5

Alm and his company were progressing nicely through the country of Rigel. They were already at Dragon's Maw. Hestia was quickly and efficiently taking out all of the dragons that were in their path with an amazing grace. The others were following behind her so as to not get left behind.

They were at the end of the Maw when Hestia collapsed. She fell forward and onto her hands and knees. Alm rushed forward on his horse and grabbed a hold of her upper arm. He grunted as he pulled the witch up and onto his horse. Berkut and Alm ran out of the Maw with great speed.

They were a little ways down the mountain before Alm slowed to a halt to check on Hestia.

"Are you okay?" Alm's eyes were covered in concern.

"Yes... I just used too much magic." Hestia's expression was unreadable behind her mask.

"Please," Alm pleaded "avoid doing that. I don't want anyone I care about to die because of something silly like that."

"I... I won't." Hestia promised.

Alm smiled at her as Berkut said "Yeah, we don't need to be any lover on people than we already are."

Rinea smacked him "Berkut! Hestia is not just another person." She smiled as she looked over to Hestia. "She's our friend."

"Right." Berkut responded dryly.

Before a fight could start, Alm began to ride towards the town that was just ahead. Berkut seeing this followed, and quickly passed Alm on the road.

Alm rode faster to get ahead of Berkut.

It continued like this the entire way to the town.

Once they got to the town, Alm, Hestia, Berkut, and Ribea dispersed to gather more supplies. Rinea and Berkut went to gather more weapons, and Hestia and Alm went to get food.

"Meet us back here in thirty minutes." Berkut told Alm as he and Rinea walked away.

"Okay." Alm and Hestia walked up to one of the food stalls, and were disappointed to see that it was mostly empty.

"Let's try the next one." Alm told Hestia with a small smile.

They went to the next one with the same results. This pattern continued for six ore stalls until they found one that was expensive, but had options.

"Can we get cheese?" Hestia asked Alm who told her to pick out what she liked.

"Hey," The woman who ran the booth suddenly said. "It'll be double the price for you, Fancy pants."

Alm's eyes narrowed when he heard this "Why?"

"Because you obviously have the money to afford to pay a raised price." She glanced the two of them over. "At least by the look of your clothes you do, ulike these other people." She gestured her arm to the surroundings, and it was just then that Alm and Hestia realized that many of the villages were staring at them.

"We will not pay extra," Hestia raised her hand, and it began to glow purple. "Unless you want your little booth to... disappear." Hestia threatened, eyes gleaming.

The woman's eyes widened, and all of the villagers around her tensed as they realized that she was not joking. The woman quickly began to pace all of their groceries into Alm's clothe satchel. Alm thanked her and walked back to the meeting place.

Rinea and Berkut were already there when they arrived, and both of them could immediately tell that something was wrong when they saw Alm's frown,

"What's wrong?" Rinea's eyes turned into slits. "Did something happen?"

"The villagers attempted to charge us extra." Hestia said. "We resolved it."

Berkut sighed before ruffling Alm's green hair. "Well, it's almost dark. We should go find an inn."

"Yeah." Alm began to follow Berkut as they went to the nearest inn that they could find.

(_This is the only way to linebreak_)

Celica and company were steadily walking through the forest near Ram. They were on their way to the Deliverance's hideout. They began to hear brigands shouting in the distance, and stopped to see what was going on.

"Ain't there a town ahead? I'm starvin." One of the larger brutes told the smaller one.

"Yeah, can't wait to try the girls there..."

"I'm already tired of the blue one we got at da base."

"Those bastards..." Tobin gritted out as he thought about his two sisters being violated by these ruffians.

"We need to stop them before they reach the town." Celica said.

"Wait! Stop, we should think this out first." But it was too late when he said this. All of the others were rushing forward to confront the brigands.

Faye rushed forward with her sword, and took a swing at the shocked brigands. Tobin and Gray were following her and attacked the two that had begun to swing their axes. Celica began to attack the leader of this small party with Lukas backing her up. Lukas made sure that Celica didn't get hit by one of the brigands, and Faye, Tobin, and Gray made sure to clear the rest of the bandits out.

When all was said and done, the entire group was left panting. Faye had a large gash on her left cheek, Tobin was limping slightly from a twisted ankle, and Gray had a large bruise forming on his right arm. Celica and Lukas were, for the most part, fine.

"Now, we should -huff- find out where their base -huff- is." Gray panted out as he walked towards Celica.

"They are most likely in the Thieves Den." Lukas informed the group.

"The Thieves Den?" Faye spoke. "What's that?"

"It is a cave in this area that used to be a holy site," Lukas responded "but now it is mainly a hideout for the lowlifes of Zofia."

"Then it is also most likely where they are hiding that girl they were talking about then." Celica narrowed his eyes.

"We should help her then! It would be the right thing to do." Tobin said.

"Ya' don't say, . I would hope that you planned on helping." Faye glared at Tobin, who shifted nervously.

"We don't have time for your bickering!" Celica admonished. "We have to help her."

"Yes, I suppose that would be the best course of action." Lukas agreed.

"Then let's go!" Faye exclaimed.

(Linebreak)

"We have to go through the graveyard" Mae told Boey and Genny as they walked towards the town.

"Aww..." Boey groaned "Do we have to?"

"Yes, you big baby!" Mae shouted "That's the only way to get to the port."

"Umm... guys..." Genny's quiet voice interrupted the two mages.

"Huh?" Mae looked towards Genny. "What?"

"There is a... a strange thing... over there..." Genny pointed at a small cluster of trees that was nearby.

"It's Risen!" Boey lifted his arm, and cast a fire spell at the monster.

Mae attacked one of the risen that was approaching Genny with her lightening. Boey assaulted two Risen, and began to pant from the magic usage. Genny healed Boey after she killed another Risen.

They were all left with small scratches when all was said and done. Genny healed them as they walked to the port.

"That wasn't too hard," Mae clapped Boey on the back. "right you small wuss?"

"Hey!" Boey lightly shoved Mae away. "It is perfectly reasonable to not like Risen."

"Yeah, yeah." Mae said.

"Look," Genny pointed to a small tower in the distance. "I can see the port!" Genny began to run to the port gates, Mae and Boey following close behind her.

When they reached the town, the first thing that they noticed was that the whole place smelled like fish. The second thing that they noticed were all the cats that were around. One of the cats ran up to Genny,and began to rub against her leg. She picked it up and it began to lick her face. She giggled and began to hug the cat.

"Did you find a friend, Genny?" Boey asked Genny and began to pet the cat's head.

Genny nodded, and followed Mae who was walking to the old man who appeared to be running boat rides.

"How can I help you?" The old man asked.

"Yes," Mae smiled " Can you give us a ride to the main land?"

"Ah." The old man frowned. "I would, but I can't."

"Huh?!" Mae groaned "Why not? We can pay you." Mae said.

"Money is not the problem."

"Then what is?" Boey asked.

"Pirates have been in these waters lately," The Old man glanced at the trio. "and I am not about to travel these waters without you three having some proper protection."

"We can fight.! We have magic." Mae said.

"Even so, I do not want your blood on my hands, and you will need some physical protection."

"Okay." Genny said before Mae could retort. "We will find somebody to go with us."

The three of them walked away, Mae heading to the square, Boey going to the shops, and Genny going towards the tavern.

When Genny entered the tavern she was immediately hit by the thick scent of smoke that was assaulting her nostrils. She wandered over to a corner, for she was too shy to speak to any of the people who looked like they could wield a weapon. She stayed in that corned until a deep, husky voice spoke in her ear.

"Hey," It spoke. "You know, your kinda cute." It paused before speaking again. "How about you come with me tonight?" The man grabbed her around the waist, and pulled her against his body.

Genny was beginning to begin to scared until a different voice spoke up. "Hey, how about you leave the lass alone?"

"What if I don't?" The voice that was assaulting Genny challenged him.

"If you don't, them I'll fucking destroy you." The man that was holding Genny was suddenly kicked, and went flying into a table, releasing Genny in the process.

"Th-Thank you, s-sir." Genny stuttered as she looked at the man who had helped her. He had dingy orange hair, leather armor, and, the most notable feature, an eye-patch over his eye.

"No problem. Just don't let it happen again." He began to walk away until Genny asked him if he would accompany her and her friends on a journey. "What's in it for me?" He asked.

"Uhh... I have... I have..." Genny paused as she tried to think of something that she could give that would be proper payment.

"Eh. Forget it. I'll help you."

Genny paused when she heard this. Why would this man help for free?

"I would feel like shit if I had the oppritunity to save your life, but didn't because I did not go with you." He ran a hand through his hair.

"Thanks... sir." Genny quietly said.

"The names Saber."

"Thanks, Saber."

"Let's go join your little friends now."

"Okay, thanks for helping me."

"No problem."

(AN)

This was one of the easier chapters that I have written, and I hope that you liked it.


	6. Chapter 6

Alm stretched as he woke up from his slumber. He yawned and got out of his bed. Hestia was waiting outside of his room when he walked out of it.

"What are you doing here?" Alm questioned the witch as they began to walk to the main floor of the inn.

"I was waiting for my lord to awaken." Hestia drawled in her emotionless voice.

"You did not have to do that."

"I had to ensure that nobody would assassinate my lord in his sleep."

To say that Alm was creeped out would be an understatement. He did not think that Hestia should have had to stay awake all night to try and keep him safe.

"Uhh... Thanks, I guess." Alm walked over to Rinea and Berkut who were already downstairs.

"Why do you always wake so late, Alm?" Berkut asked Alm as he finished eating the orange that they got yesterday. "We have to leave shortly." Berkut said. "We were supposed to get to the border yesterday, but we spent too much time fighting dragons on the mountain."

"You can eat while we get the horses out of the stable." Rinea and Berkut left the inn after Rinea said this.

What do you want?" Alm asked Hestia as he looked in the satchel. "We have oranges, herring, and some bread."

"I will have one piece of herring." Hestia said.

She was about to begin eating when the door opened, and in walked a well dressed, blonde man. He glanced over all of the people that were in the room at the moment, and his gaze stopped when he looked at Alm. He walked over to them and said, "Are you the two who went to my mother's booth yesterday?" The man asked.

"Was that your mother?" Alm asked.

"Yes, she was the one who tried to get more money."

"What do you want?" Hestia asked coldly.

"I wanted to formaly apologize for my mother's actions." He said with a small bow.

Alm was not expecting that. He thought that he would yell at them for not paying his mother more. But, he was actually a really kind person.

"Apology accepted." Alm said.

The man looked happy that his apology was accepted, and he said this, "I still do not feel good about how my mother addressed you. I wish to help you however I can."

Alm's eyes widened, and he tried to tell the man that this was unnecessary. The man insisted however.

"Well," Hestia spoke. "If you are going to be joining us then you should at least tell us your name."

The man's cheeks flushed with embarrassment, and he apologized again before telling the duo that his name was Zeke. After they learned his name they began to eat.

"Is she really your mom? You don;t look alike." Hestia said in-between bites.

"That's kinda rude you know." Alm told Hestia.

"No," Zeke said. "It is fine. She is not my real mother. However, she is the one who has been helping me to settle in when I came to this town without any of my memories."

"You don't have any memories?" Alm asked as he ate his bread.

"No. I came to this continent from a boat that crashed, and I couyd not remember anything."Zeke said. "My mother, adoptive one that is, took care of me while I could not remember anything."

"You don't have to come with us. You can stay here." Alm said.

"I want to help you. What my mother did was unacceptable, and I need to repay you because it is my fault that she was os rude to you."

"How was that your fault?" Hestia asked Zeke.

"She is mad at the nobles of Rigel because she thinks that what they are doing is wrong."

"What have the nobles done to you to make her mad?" Hestia questioned.

"They... kidnapped her niece, and they are making me serve in their army to get her back."

"..." Alm was silent because he was at the meeting that they declared that all able bodied men had to serve in the army, or work on a farm. The meeting was held because they were going to try to take over all of Valentia. They needed more soldiers than they had at the time though.

"It is fine though." Zeke said when he noticed how silent Alm was. "I don't mind fighting. I just wish that Titiana was not being held captive to make me fight."

"Well, I am the crown prince of Rigel. I can make them release her now that you are going to be fighting with us." Alm smiled.

"Thanks." Zeke returned the smile.

"Where is she being held?"

"She is being held in Nuibaba's castle that is to the West of here."

"I can get her." Hestia suddenly spoke. "All of the faithful have access to the holy sites that worship Lord Duma."

"How long do you think that will take?" Alm asked.

"I can get her released when we pass there on the way to the border."

"Great because I think that Berkut and Rinea are done getting the horses out of the stables." Alm said before asking, "Do you need a horse, Zeke?"

"I have a horse that was given to me when I joined the army."

"Great! Then we can get going."

"Who are you?" Asked Rinea who had just heard that Zeke would be joining them.

"Berkut, Rinea, this is Zeke. Zeke will be joining us on our journey. Zeke, this is my cousin Berkut and his fiance Rinea." Alm introduced everyone.

"Well, the more the merrier, I guess." Berkut said. "We need to get going though."

"Okay."

The group left with their new member, and were passing Nuibaba's castle when Hestia left to get Titiana released. She said that she would teleport to them when she was done, and to not wait for her. They continued and were close to the border when they saw a small child in the middle of the road. The child walked up to them and asked them if they knew where he was.

"You are in the mighty kingdom of Rigel." Berkut answered the child's query with a raised eyebrow.

"Is that so..." The child muttered under his breath before walking past them, and disappearing.

"That was strange." Rinea said.

"Yeah, it was." Zeke responded.

The group continued on their way to the border, and when they got there there were still many hours of daylight left. They wanted to continue going towards the castle. They could possibly get there in two days.

{Linebreak}

"Gah! Please leave me alone! I'm just the stupid watchman! I won't do anything, I'm just a small puppy! Don't hurt me! Aieee!" A large man, that would be rather scary if he did not look so close to tears, ran out the door that was behind the group.

"What a wuss!" Tobin exclaimed.

"Yeah, no kidding" Faye agreed.

"Let's get this over with." Gray said as he walked past them all, and into the cave.

The group crept up on the bandits that were inhabiting the cave, and sneak attacked them. The bandits that were not expecting the attack were ill prepared for the hoard of teenagers that assaulted them, and ultimately got their asses handed to them by Celica and her crew. The rest of the bandits faced the exact same results. When they got to the backroom of the cave, they saw a young cleric laying on the floor. Tobin approached the girl and gently shook her awake. When she woke up, the first thing that she did was ask who they all were.

"We are the Deliverance." Lukas answered.

"We came here to save you." Gray added.

"Oh! Thank you." The girl smiled before adding, "My name is Silque, and, once again, I thank you for saving me."

"It was not a problem." Celica said as she pulled her hand out to help Silque up.

Silque's eyes widened when she saw Celica's hand, and her hands flew to her pocket. She pulled out a locket-like device, and handed it to was confused until Silque said that she was sent to find Celica, and said that she would explain it later.

"Look!" Faye exclaimed. "It's a statue of Mila!"

All of the villagers approached the statue with an offering, and changed classes. Faye became a pegasus knight, Tobin became a mercenary, and Gray became a cavalier.

After this was over, they all went outside. Silque pulled Celica aside, and said in a hushed whisper, "Princess Anthiese," Celica gasped "I am a friend, and I have been sent to give you that device that I gave you. It is called Mila's Turnwheel."

"Where are you from?" Celica asked.

"I am from the Temple of Mila, and I would like to help you in whatever you wish to endeavor." Silque said.

"Your help would be appreciated, we don't have anyone who is capable of weilding magic helping us." Celica said.

"It would be my pleasure to accompany you."

{Linebreak}

"Let's go!" Mae shouyted when Genny came back with Saber in tow.

"Where did you find him, Genny?" Boey asked Genny.

"I went to the tavern and he offered to help us." Genny said.

"Well," Boey glanced a Saber who was walking behind them. "I would not have expected him to be the type of person who would help anybody who came calling."

"You can't judge everybody by how they look. I found him to be quite nice."

"I suppose you can't."

They were back at the boat now, and were beginning to board after the old man agreed to let them have a ride to the mainland. They set sail, and immediately ran into pirates.

"We are going to run into a lot of pirates aren't we?" Mae asked Boey as she cast a lightening spell on a group of pirates.

"Well," Boey cast a fire spell. "The old man did say that these waters were infested."

When the fighting was done, they saw an island in the distance.

"Oh no." The old man muttered.

"What's wrong?" Mae asked.

"That island is where all the pirates work from." The old man said. "That battle distracted me from our course."

"Wait, can't we stop all of the pirates if we take them out on that island?" Mae asked.

"That would be extremely dangerous." The old man said.

"But it would allow you to be back on the sea, and it would be a lot safer." Boey argued.

"Let's go to that island!" Mae shouted.

"If you say so..." The old man muttered.

"Hey, lass," Saber spoke to Genny, ignored by everyone else.

"Yes, Saber?" Genny responded.

"Why are your friends so insane?"

"I'm... not sure."

"Just wanted to know."

An

I will be trying to finish this quickly because I have different things that I want to work on, and I decided to not do more than two long fanfics at a time. I am going to try and finish this by April.

Just so you know some of the path specific characters will be changing paths to give Alm some company that dosen't consist of only Rigelians.


	7. Chapter 7

"Sir Lukas!:" A soldier that was in service to the Deliverance ran up to Lukas and began to tell them to not go to the Deliverance's fort. "The outpost has been taken by the Rigelians!"

"What?" Lukas was shocked. "How did this happen?"

"There were so many, and we could not hold them off!"

"Isn't Claire there though?"

"Yes, Lady Claire was taken captive by the Rigelians!"

Lukas sighed, and told the soldier to return to the main base before telling Celica and crew how dissapointed he was that this was the first impression that they had of the Deliverance. Then, Celica had the idea to take back the outpost from Rigel.

"That is a suicide mission!" Tobin blurted out.

"But it will show how devoted that we are to doing this!" Gray retorted.

"It won't pay off if we all die!"

"We won't die!"

"You don't know that!"

"Shut up!" Faye interjected. "We are going to the Southern Outpost because if we don't then we will never be able to fight the real army!"

"She has a point." Lukas quietly said.

"Good," Celica spoke. "Then we can get going."

They traveled to the outpost, and spied on the guard formations that they had in place. There were three in the front were all lance users, and the ones that were behind them were archers. There were also many different types of soldiers sprinkled throughout the Southern Outpost.

Celica ran through the lance users and went straight for the archers with her sword so that Faye could get coser. Gray, Lukas, and Tobin both attacked the lance users to dissuade them from attacking Celica. When the archers were dispersed, Faye flew up to the fort, and many of the others were distracted. Silque made sure to keep the Deliverance healed up, and whenever it was needed she would attack one of the Rigelians.

When they won, they began to explore the outpost. Faye was in awe of the pretty stonework, and Gray and Tobin were both exploring the weaponry. Celica went with Lukas to release the prisoners. They found the key on the table, and the first person that they released was Lady Claire. When they went to releasee Claire the first thing that she did when she got up (By herself, mind you.) was collapse onto Lukas' chest.

"Oh," The girl left out a loud, fake sob. "Lukas I was so scared, I cannot wait to get back to my brother." She then noticed Celica standing awkwardly to the side. "Oh?" Claire raised a fine eyebrow. "And who might you be?"

"I am Celica. It is nice to meet you." Celica said as she bowed slightly.

Claire smiled when she saw Celica bow. " Oh, you don't have to do that, I am no longer a noble. You are incredibly polite for a commoner though."

"Thank you." Celica said.

"Hmm..." Claire looked like she was thinking deeply. "You do look really familiar though. Have I met you?"

Celica panicked slightly before stuttering out a "N-no..."

Claire accepted this response, and turned to once again face Lukas.

"Have you head from my brother at all?"

"No. All that I have been doing lately was going to Ram village to recruit Sir Mycen."

"You brought THE Sir Mycen here?! Where is he? I want to meet him!" Claire exclaimed.

"NO, but I did recruit his granddaughter. His granddaughter is behind you."

Claire turned around and re-greeted Celica."Oh! I had no idea that you were Sir Mycen's granddaughter." Claire curtsied. "It is so nice to meet you."

"You too."

Claire at this point was heading up the stairs with Lukas following behind her. Celica went along with them. When they got to the ground floor, all of the other prisoners had been released. All of the former prisoners were extremely grateful to Celica and her team for releasing them. Then, there was a commotion outside. There was a paladin outside. He was wearing green armor, and he also had white hair. He stopped his horse outside of the base, and immidiatly began to seek out Claire.

"Claire!" The man screamed.

"Fernand!" Claire greeted.

"You are safe? I thought that you had been captured when the fort had fallen." He said.

"I was, but this fair lady had saved me." Claire said.

"Very well," He said. "Will you be coming back with me?" He asked.

"No." Claire responded. "I will be heading back with miss Celica and Lukas."

The man, Fernand, left shortly after Claire had said that she would be heading back with Celica. Celica left as well, with Claire, Lukas, Tobin, Faye, and Gray following after her.

{LineBreak}

Berkut was ecstatic. "We made it all the way to Desaix's Fortress."

"That is a long way to travel." Zeke agreed.

"Let's stop here." Rinea said. "The rooms here are most likely a lot more comfortable than anywhere else would be at this point until we reach the castle."

"But, we could get to the castle tonight!" Berkut looked really happy at the thought.

"It isn't a race, Berkut." Alm said.

"It is also two hours after dark." Zeke rationalized.

Rinea yawned and blinked tiredly. Berkut, seeing this, agreed with Alm and Zeke and went into the fortress to demand that Desaix give them rooms. After this was done, it was apparent that Desaix only had two free rooms because, well, it WAS a fortress, not a hotel. This left Rinea and Berkut in a room, and Zeke and Alm to also be in a room.

"I apologize, my prince." Zeke said as Alm was dis-armoring.

"For what?" Alm asked.

"For having to share a room with you. I would sleep on the chair... If they had one."

"It's not your fault. It's Desaix's fault for having an awful fort."

"I suppose, but I still feel like it is improper to share a bed with a prince, much less a crown prince."

"It would be worse if you were sleeping with Rinea." Alm chuckled at the thought of Berkut's face if he mentioned that.

"That would be even worse," Zeke chuckled. "Sleeping in the same bed as a prince's fiance."

"Yep." Alm agreed. "Hey, Zeke do you mind me asking something?"

"Not at all."

"What was it like? Being in Rigel's army, I mean." Alm asked

Zeke looked suprised at the question. "It... was not awful, I suppose. If that was what you meant."

"Are you lying? Because I have a feeling that being in the army was a lot worse than you are trying to tell me."

"I... suppose that depending on your point of view it may have been a bad experience."

"Tell me about it." Alm commanded.

"It would have been a lot better if Titiana was not being hung over my head so that I would not defect." Zeke said before pausing. "The other people there were not bad, but" Zeke took in a large breath before continuing. "The commanders, on the other hand, were not anywhere near as kind." Zeke said.

"So... They weren't..." Alm said under his breath while looking very thoughtful.

"The one that I was serving under wasn't. His name was Jerome."

"Jerome..."

"He constantly terrorized the people of my village, and forced them to give up basically all of our food. The only reason that my mother's booth still had food was because I was one of the best soldiers there. That is also why the townsfolk there were so mean and rude to you all when you went there. They thought that you all were going to be awful. That is also why I went with you all at the beginning. I thought that you may harm the people of the village if I didn't watch you. But, you all turned out to be a lot kinder than I thought that you would be." Zeke finished.

"Hmmm... So that's what Jerome is like." Alm mumbled.

"Yes. May I ask you a question?" Zeke asked.

"Huh? Sure. What do you want to ask?"

"Why did you want to know what it was like in the army?" Zeke asked.

"Well," Alm began. "I am going to be the future emperor, and I think that to make the country better, and to ensure the continued growth of our people, then I am going to have to know about the opinions and the problems of our people."

"It's nice to know that somebody cares." Zeke smiled. "You will be a fine emperor."

"Thanks." Alm smiled.

Zeke then noticed something that he had failed to notice before. "What's on your hand, Alm?"

Alm looked at his hand, and he smiled. "It is a birthmark." He said as he showed Zeke the diamond-like shape on his hand. "I have had it for as long as I could remember."

"That's interesting, at least you have a cool birthmark. All that I have are countless scars."

"I think that scars are a noble thing to have. They tell stories." Alm said.

"Hmm... I suppose that they do." Responded Zeke.

They sat in a comfortable silence for many minutes after that.

"We should go to sleep. Berkut can be really mean when he thinks that you deserve it. Annnnnd not going to sleep on time counts in Berkut's mind." Alm said.

"We also should be rested for the long trek to the castle that will come in the morning."

"Goodnight."

{Linebreak}

They were now at the island, and Genny, was fucking terrified. She was not ready to fight a hoard of pirates, and the only reason that she was even going to help was because she wanted to keep Mae, Boey , and Saber safe fro harm. She was also not expecting to see a group of three other people that were already there. They were all male, one armor knight, an archer, and a mercenary. They were already pretty far into the hideout, and Mae and Boey were going into the battle without any tactics.

Saber probably would have been going into the battle as well, but he appeared to be trying to protect Genny from the pirates that thought that the healer would be the easiest target. He would cut down anybody who had tried to attack Genny, and Mae and Boey went after the boss with that other group that was there.

"Thanks for helping us... Who are you by the way?" The armor knight asked.

"If you have come here to harm Vabar..." The purple-clad archer muttered under his breath.

"Not everyone is here to harm your precious Valbar, ya' know." The mercenary told the archer in a harsh tone.

"I am just making sure." The archer said.

"Ignore these two idiots, miss. I will introduce myself first. I am Valbar, and these two idiots are Leon and Kamui." Valbar said.

"Well," Mae began "I am Mae, this is Boey, that is Genny, and the tall silent, and dangerous looking dude over there is Saber." Mae said while pointing to each respective person.

"Nice to meet you." Boey said.

"Me as well."Genny whispered.

"Likewise." Saber said simply.

"Well, we would not have won without your help. You see, these pirates killed my family, and I was a stupid idiot that recruited two people to join me on a suicide revenge mission." Valbar said.

"We chose to join you, you didn't force us to come with you to this island." Leon said.

"I know, but I still feel awful for endangering you two." Valbar responded.

"It was not forced. You should not feel bad." Kamui said.

"From what I hear," Mae interjected, "I don't think that you are at fault at all, Valbar."

"I agree." Boey said.

"Thank you." Leon said.

"Well," Valbar began. "We could not have won without you, and you helped me get revenge for my family so I would like to go with you to aide in... whatever it is that you are doing."

"If Valbar goes then I will go." Leon said, and Kamui agreed with him.

"You can all come, if you want to." Boey said.

"We should get back to the boat." Saber said. "I bet that the old man is getting tired, and I don't want to be stuck on this island while the old geezer takes a nap."

They walked back to the boat, with three new allies on their side.

AN

Well, I hope that you liked the chapter. It was fun to write. Don't expect to see Kamui anymore. I really do not like him at all. Please tell me what yyou think about it so far.


	8. Chapter 8

When Alm woke up in the morning, Zeke was already out of the room. So, Alm got ready to finish the journey to the castle. He dressed, and he bathed before he headed out to eat. Berkut and Zeke were both talking to each other in the mess hall when Alm got there, and Rinea was nowhere to be seen.

"I think that the best meat is pork." Zeke was saying to Berkut.

"Pork is okay, but I prefer shellfish." Berkut replied.

"I think that shellfish- Hello, Alm." Zeke said once he noticed that Alm was there.

"Good morning cousin."

"Good morning, Berkut. Where is Rinea?" Alm asked.

"She wants to make a good impression when we get to the castle, and is taking more time than normal to get ready." Berkut groaned. "I understand wanting to make a good impression, but this is ridiculous."

"Tatiana would also spend much time getting ready before going to meet somebody new. Many women do that." Zeke said.

"I thought that Rinea always looked fine." Alm said.

"Usually all that she does is her hair, and making sure that her dress looks fine." Berkut informed.

"What did Tatiana do?" Alm questioned Zeke.

"She was- is a saint in service of Lord Duma."

"She is one of the faithful?" Berkut scrunched up his face. "Then why would Nuibaba have to kidnap her?" Berkut asked.

"She is loyal to Duma, not one of the faithful. She was raised in an orphanage that my nother's sister ran. So, she was raised to be loyal to Duma." Zeke explained.

"She didn't sacrifice her soul to Duma then? Good, I think that it is disgusting to sacrifice yourself to some god. Serving is one thing, but sacrificing is an entirely different one."

"I agree, I would be disappointed if Tatiana became one of the soulless faithful." Zeke agreed with Berkut.

"That still dosen't explain why Nuibaba would kidnap her. I mean, she is still loyal to the same god as Nuibaba, so why would they harm one of their own?" Alm's brows furrowed.

"They were also planning to sacrifice her if I didn't do what they army wished for me to do."

Things were silent for a few minutes after this, until a voice cleared from the doorway. "Well," Rinea said while doing a small twirl. "What do you think?" She was wearing a long dark blue dress that had a slit that reached her thigh. The sleeves also reached around her arms. (Shade's dress).

"You look amazing, beloved." Berkut said as he rose from his seat at the table.

"Thank you!" Rinea smiled as she walked up to Berkut and hugged him. "I even got one of the carriages that Desaix uses so that we wont have to get filthy."

"I didn't even know that Desaix had carriages." Alm said.

"Hmm... Well," Rinea begins. "I did have to persuade a guard to give it to me. Apparently, Desaix had ordered all of his guards to not give any of his guests the best. Including the roylsty of the knigdom that he had to go to to win his war. Did you know that there was a whole other wing full of bedrooms?" Rinea said.

"The nerve, hiding something from the royals who helped him win his bloody war." Berkut said sardonically.

"Well," Zeke began. "Desaix really didn't know that the royal family would be coming here, did he?"

"Still," Rinea said. "If you have the guts to come into Desaix's Fortress and command rooms, then you should give them the rooms."

"Yeah," Alm agreed. "These weak willed Zofians wouldn't be able to lie their way out of anything." Alm finished.

"Um, Your graces," A messernger of Desaix's suddenly sopke.

"How long haveyou been there?" Berkut asked.

"Only for a few seconds, sir." He said. "Your carriage is ready."

"Thank you, you amy leave.' Rinea said.

The messenger looked really thankful for being dismissed, and quickly left the conversation. They left the fortress shortly after that, however, because of an unforseen roadblock, they had to go to a nearby village while they cleared it.

"This is awful." Rinea moped as they neared the village gates. "I spent all this time getting ready, and we won't be getting to the castle until later tonight."

"If we weren't royalty, we would probably have to wait another week because it wouldn't have been as high on their priority list." Berkut said as he put an arm around Rinea.

"But, we bumped it up on the list to top priority." Alm said as he played chess with Zeke.

"Check." Zeke said.

"You two should stop that now." Rinea said. "We are reaching the town gates." Rinea said while they went past the gates.

All of the townspeople were suddenly staring at the carriage that had entered their humble little town. They never really got rich folk coming to their town, and were excited to see who would come out of the vehicle. They would be happy as long as it wasn't Desaix. When the carriage stopped, four people stepped out, first was Berkut and the people did not recognize him as the prince of Rigel, and they did not recognize Alm or Rinea when they exited either. Zeke was the last to exit, and the people just thought that he looked like an ordinary paladin.

The fur of them looked around the town, and in the town square, they ran into a brother with his sister.

"Delthea! Don't go running off!" The red haired man exclaimed after his sister, Delthea, ran to one of the stores that she wanted to go into. The man sighed before slowly walking towards the shop that Delthea ran into. Rinea took interest in the two of them, and dragged Berkut into the shop with her.

"Come on! It'll be fun." Rinea said as she dragged her lover into a store called _'The Real Ingredient'._

"I didn't even know that you liked alchemy." Berkut said.

"I don't." Rinea chirped.

"Then _why_ are we going into an alchemist ingredients shop?" He sounded exasperated.

" _Because_ ," Rinea hissed. "I want to follow those two interesting siblings that just went in here."

"Stalker, much?" Berkut asked jokingly.

"Oh, you are awful." Rinea replied.

"Huh? Who are you?" Delthea asked a man that was robed in deep purple robes.

"I am Jamil, and unless you come with me, I will destroy this pathetic village."

"That's... That's so unfair!" Delthea screamed, attracting the attention of her brother, and Rinea.

"Leave my sister alone." The brother pulled her behind him.

"I will take her. With or without her consent."

"No, you won't." Rinea interjected before things could go any farther.

"Who are you to stop me?" Jamil asked with neon purple eyes shining.

"I am the eldest prince of Rigel, and since you are one of the faithful, you are under Rigelian law. Which means that you will obey my command." Berkut spoke authoritatively.

Jamil's eyes widened, and he suddenly realized who he was speaking to. He grumbled a little before teleporting away. Rinea and Berkut turned to the two siblings who were staring at the two nobles with awe in their eyes. At least the younger one was. The brother merely looked thankful.

"Are you a princess?!" Delthea asked excitedly.

"No, but I am marrying a prince." Rinea smiled.

"Thank you for saving my sister, I don't know how to repay you." The brother spoke.

"Simply your name will be enough." Rinea said.

"My name, then, is Luthier." The orange haired man said.

"It is nice to meet you, Luthier." Berkut said.

"Is there any way that I can repay you, though?"

"No payment is necessary." Berkut said.

"But, I insist." Luthier said.

"How would you even repay us for something so simple, and also insignificant?" Berkut asked.

"But, it was not insignificant to me, it saved my little sister, and I will always thank you for that."

"Any decent person would have done that." Rinea said gleefully.

"Not as many as you think. There are lot's that wouldn't risk themselves for another." Delthea said.

"Those, child, are called jerks." Rinea said.

"Why would the faithful have wanted you anyways?" Berkut asked.

"They probably wanted to use my powers. You see, my mother's family has always had powerful magic, and I suppose that it could put quite the target on my head." Delthea said disdainfully.

"Well,"Rinea began. "If you have a 'target on your head', as you say, then it is best to have it be for power." Rinea informed Delthea.

"I guess..." Delthea got quiet after that.

"Well... If you ever need anything, just ask." Luthier said before leaving the store with his sister.

"Well, that was interesting."Rinea said.

"It strengthens my point that the Faithful are god- awful people. Honestly, kidnapping a little girl to use her for her powers. Is their own magic not good enough?" Berkut said angrily.

"They are quite.. strange in their recruitment methods." Rinea said slowly, as if she could not quite agree with what she was saying.

"That is putting it lightly." Berkut grumbled.

They left the shop after that, and went into one that they were actually interested least Rinea was. They were off to go look at the different types of flowers that were native to Zofia. Rinea bought a small plant that was not even flowering yet. It was called a Forsnthia. It was supposed to have blue and violet flowers whenever they bloomed.

"They plant is supposed to bring good luck." The girl that was selling flowers had said.

Berkut thought that it was stupid, but Rinea liked flowers, and she got the entire plant.

"I just have to find the perfect place for it when we get to Castle Zofia. It will bring good luck to any upcoming battles." Rinea said.

"We won't need luck to win our battles." Berkut replied, and when Rinea puffed out her cheek and huffed he amended his statement by saying that a little extra luck will never go wrong though.

They got lunch after that, and they began to go back to the carriage because the road should be fixed by now. When they got there there were three people waiting there. Zeke and Alm were there as expected, but the person who surprised them was the brother that they had helped earlier. Luthier, was his name.

"What are you doing here?" Berkut asked.

"I have decide to ask if I could join the Rigelian army as a mage." Luthier said.

"Don't you have a sister?" Rinea inquired.

"She said that she would stay with one of her friends, and that she would like it if I joined the people that helped her. She said that she would join if she liked fighting."

"So you are doing this because your sister said to?" Berkut raised his eyebrows.

"I also wish to repay any debt I may have acquired by helping you achieve victory." Luthier said.

"But aren't you a Zofian?" All eyes turned to Zeke. "I just mean- I'm wondering why you would support Rigel, who by all means, is the invading country?"

"He makes a good point." Alm said as he leaned against the carriage.

"I hold no real loyalty to Zofia, despite being Zofian. Not to mention that you are the princes of Rigel, yet you helped a lowly Zofian commoner that you did not need to help." Luthier reasoned.

Rinea smiled and said, "I like your attitude! You can join our personal party! As long as it is okay with my _beloved_ , and it is okay, right Berkut?" Rinea smiled at Berkut in such a way that it practically forced him to comply with her wishes or else.

"Yeah, it's fine. We don't have any magic users helping us now anyways. Now that Hestia is gone for who knows how long." Berkut said.

"Thank you." Luthier said.

"But this is a four person carriage." Alm said. "I wouldn't mind riding my horse." Alm said happily.

"Nor would I." Zeke agreed.

"You should both ride the rest of the way! It would allow you to expend some energy before we reach the castle." Rinea grabbed Berkut and Luthier as she got into the carriage. "Now Berkut can't go the rest of the way on a horse because he should get better acquainted with our new party member!"

They left the town shortly after, and arrived at the Castle of Zofia shortly before sunset. There was a welcoming party there. It consisted of Slayde, a platoon of guards, and the lord himself, Desaix. Zeke and Luthier both joined Slayde because that was what they had discussed earlier. Alm, Rinea, and Berkut were escorted into the castle first, and Zeke and Luthier went with the guards to the guards quarters.

They were escorted into the throne room, and Desaix apologized for any inconvenience that may have occurred at his fortress. He said that he gave those orders to prevent any miscreants from worming their way into his fortress. But, all of the people in the room knew what that really meant, it meant that Desaix only wished to help himself. Which was understandable, but it was also very selfish. They had a comfortable dinner, and they were given a tour of the castle.

"I do like this ballroom." Rinea said as she glanced around.

"It is quite nice, maybe we could have a dance tomorrow." Berkut replied

"That would be nice, would you like to join us if we do, Alm?" Rinea said.

"Sure, I wouldn't mind accompanying you." Alm replied.

They continued the tour after that, and cbedfore they knew it, they were finished.

"Now, you will be given the finest rooms that this castle has to offer." Desaix said as he beckoned a guard forward to guide them.

"Please do ensure that our comrades that arrived with us get comfortable lodgings as well." Berkut commanded Desaix.

"Of course, your highness."

They arrived at their rooms, and Alm was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

{Linebreak}

Celica and her team were entering the Deliverance's hideout. The place was dark and decrepit. It also happened to be full of risen.

"Ewww... These things are so creepy. I hate them!" Faye shouted as she impaled another on her lance.

"I know! Why does the room that they asked us to go to locked anyways? That is, like, so pointless." Tobin said angrily as he sliced another one in half.

"That dude up front were weird as well! They were all like "Yeah, go into the risen filled hideout, and find our boss who for some reason locks his door!"" Gray shouted as he stabbed a risen with the lance.

"My brother always has been a tad odd." Claire said as she flew above them.

"Just a tad?" Gray retorted.

"Maybe a bit more."

Once they finished fighting the risen, and made it to the back room, they were finally meeting with Sir Clive. He was with Fernand and a green haired man. The green haired person introduced himself as Forsynth.

"Greetings, I am Clive. The leader of the Deliverance." The man that was now known as Clive said.

"It is an honor to meet you." Celica curtsied.

"No, the honor is all mine." Clive said bowing back.

"Why are you bowing to commoner filth like _her_?" Fernand asked with a sneer.

"Now, Fernand, there are no social statuses her. There is only what you work for, and Sir Mycen's granddaughter has shown great power when she recaptured the Southern Outpost." Clive reasoned.

"I still think that it is an awful idea to give power to the common man." Fernend said.

"I am the leader, and if you do not want to do things my way, then you can leave." Clive said authoritatively.

Fernand grumbled a little before falling silent. Clive turned his attention back to Celica, and gave her a proposition. He asked her to lead the Deliverance.

"You can't be serious!" Fernand shouted in rage before storming out of the room once he was told that Clive was indeed being serious.

"Are you sure that you want me to lead?" Celica asked uncertainly. "I mean, it would be an honor, but I just lost one of your most valauble army members."

Clive sighed before saying, "Fernand would not have stayed much longer. His views differ to much from the rest of the army's to have allowed him to stay."

"You should accept!" Faye said.

"It would be a great idea." Gray agreed.

Celica thought it over, and she decided that the best way to help the people of Zofia was to be a leader that the people could look up to.

So, Celica, the lost princess of Zofia, became the leader of the Deliverance.

{Linebreak}

"I am SO happy to be back on solid ground!" Mae excitedly said as they left the boat.

"Now that we are on land, we need to move forward in our mission." Boey reminded Mae.

"I know. But, we don't even know where to start looking!" Mae exclaimed.

"What even is your mission?" Saber asked.

"Oh." Mae said in realization. "We probably should have told you this earlier. We are supposed to find the lost princess of Zofia."

Saber looked very shocked when they said this. "Are you people crazier than I thought that you were?!" Saber shouted, attracting some stares. "The lost princess of Zofia." Saber muttered in disbelief. Mae looked very indignant when she heard Saber muttering about how insane they were.

"She does exist! One of the princesses escaped from the fires twelve years ago. She is alive, and we are supposed to find her to bring life back to the land of Zofia." Mae said.

"So," Saber began. "This princess is supposed to make Zofia great again?" Saber was still looking at them like they were crazy. "Like, bring the crops back to life, banish the risen, and in general help the people."

"Yes, and if you want to back out, now is the time to do it." Boey said.

"I didn't say anything about backin out." Saber said defensively. "I would still feel awful if I heard about the delusional priests that died while trying to find a dead princess."

"Well..." Boey started "I guess that we are lucky to still have your help."

"Your damn right that you are lucky to have my help. I am not even being payed for this stupid mission."n Saber said as he flicked a coin that he found on the ground.

"Oh!"Mae exclaimed. "We should be paying you, but we don't have any money."

Boey had a contemplative look on his face now. And Saber began to tell them that it was not required, but Boey seemed to have an idea. He said that Saber could have any money that they found on their journey to find the princess.

"I really don't need money at this point." Saber tried to say, but Mae had already made up her mind.

"NOPE!" Mae laughed. "You will get all of the money that we find that isn't spent of food and supplies."

Saber admitted defeat at this point, and just accepted that he would be getting all of the money that they found.

Genny just sat at the side, and watched this all go down, smiling softly.

AN

I still plan on finishing this soon. I am thinking that I may actually finish by the end of March.

By the way, that "Make Zofia great again" thing was not meant to be a Donald Trump thing. I didn't notice it until I already wrote it, and I decided that I liked it.

(I do not care enough about politics to have an opinion. So I don't really know anything about Donald Trump.)


	9. Chapter 9

"Come on, Alm!" Rinea woke Alm up excitedly. "Berkut agreed that we could all go dancing today."

Rinea dragged Alm out of bed, and hurriedly picked out one of the outfits that they had sent over a while ago. Rinea stood outside while Alm dressed in what she picked. Zeke was with Rinea when Alm finished getting ready. The three of them headed to the ballroom that they had seen yesterday.

There was an entire orchestra there, and there was also a small choir. Rinea ran up to Berlin, and engulfed him in a hug. Berkut returned the hug while telling Rinea that he pulled some strings with Desaix to get some proper music to play whilst they were dancing.

"Do you three have anybody to dance with?" Berkut asked.

Luthier, who was watching from the side said, "Yes, I met this lovely lady last night while I was studying the stars. She said that she was getting ready when I asked her this morning."

"Lovely!" Rinea said. "What is her name?"

"Her name is Marla." As Luthier said this, a woman with pink hair done up into a ponytail with some strands left framing her face walked in. She was wearing a long black dress that had gold embellishments on it. Everyone except for Zeke and Luthier recognized her as one of Jedah's daughters. The one that was not supposed to be in Zofia.

"Marla, what are you doing here?" Alm asked the witch politely.

"I was sent because my sister, Hestia, had ran into some unexpected issues, and I was sent to ensure that you would remain safe." Marla explained. "I got to the castle late at night, and I saw Luthier standing on the balcony, examining the stars. I spoke to him, and I found out that we have quite a lot in common. Then he invited me to dance with him. I accepted."

"What troubles did Hestia run into? Did it have to do with releasing Tatiana?" Zeke inquired.

"The girl was released, but my sister was called back to the tower." Marla replied.

Rinea was then fed up with not diong what they had come there for, and grabbed Berkut around his arm. She led him to the ballroom floor with Luthier and Marla following after them. Alm and Zeke returned to the sidelines and watched as the music began.

Berkut and Rinea slowly waltzed around the room, with Luthier and Marla doing a sloppier version of the same thing. Zeke was entranced by watching Rinea spin and twirl in Berkut's arms. Zeke was reminded of a young female dancer that he had remembered from where he used to live. He couldn't remember much about her except for the feeling that he remembered feeling as he watched her dance. It was a feeling of glee, and it made him feel like he had unlimited bouts of energy just waiting to be used.

Then, interrupting the feeling that was felt throughout the room, the grand doors burst open. The man that stood there had green armor, white hair, and an awestruck expression donning his face. He stood there, watching the two nobles dance until they stopped. Berkut and Rinea were both facing the man now, and they approached him as the song stopped.

"Who are you?" Berkut asked.

"I am Fernand. A former member of the Deliverance." Fernand said.

"And why," Berkut walked up to Fernand. "Would a member of the Deliverance be at the castle of Zofia, when Rigel is obviously in command of the castle."

"I no longer believe in the ideals that the Deliverance holds."

"What did they do to make you stop believing?" Alm asked.

"They put a simple common villager in command of the entire army, simply because she is Grand Hero Mycen's granddaughter." Fernand spat out in distaste.

"Sir Mycen has a grandchild?" Berkut was shocked.

"Apparently, now if you are going to kill me, get on with it."

"No," Alm said. "You will not be killed. If you truly don't believe in the Deliverance's methods anymore, then you will join us, and fight for the army of Rigel." Alm said with a tone of finality.

Fernand looked shocked at Alm's offer. He sputtered a little, before saying that be would serve them until the end.

"What are they Deliverance planning on doing?" Berkut questioned Fernand.

"They are going to attempt to take back Castle Zofia at dawn tomorrow." Fernand responded.

"Do you think that they have enough power in their army to succeed?" Rinea asked.

"No, by no mean do they have enough power to complete anything of importance. Their first plan was to wait for more people to wish to join the Deliverance, then they found out that Sir Mycen lived near their hideout and decided that Sir Mycen would raise the moral if he joined."

"So, how did Mycen's grandchild become involved in this?" Alm asked.

"The mongrel that they tasked could not even convince him to join." Fernand scoffed. "So, he brought the grandchild, Celica, back with him."

"So, this Celica person is the one that they intend to take back this castle from Rigel's command?" Alm asked inquiringly.

"Yes, and she brought her village filth with her to join." Fernand replied.

"Then we need to work on the castle's defense." Rinea said.

"Yes, we will not allow the Deliverance to take back this castle." Berkut said as he walked out of the ballroom.

{Linebreak}

"Are you ready?" Clive asked Celica as they gazed at the castle that they were going to be attacking.

"As ready as I'll ever be." She responded.

"Good. We cannot afford to have any setbacks." Clive said.

"Let's go." Celica marched to the front of the army line up, and she ordered the soldiers to march forward.

The Deliverance began to converge onto the castle. The castle had lot's of guards posted around the gates. Celica was beginning to get worried about the sheer amount of units that were stationed around the entirety of the castle. She commanded the soldiers to move forward, and thus, the battle began.

AN

This chapter is a little shorter, but once again, I liked the ending.

I know that I don't say it much, but I really do like reviews.

Until next time.


	10. Chapter 10

"Alm, are you ready? This will be your first major battle." Berkut asked his cousin with concern lacing his voice. The two of them were watching the courtyard from the balcony. They were watching for the Deliverance.

"I am ready to fight for my homeland." Alm replied as he took an orange from one of the crates that surrounded them and began to peel it.

"I hope you are." Rinea entered the conversation from where she had been watching from the shadows.

"Were you eavesdropping?" Berkut asked with a quirked brow.

"Maybe." Was the simple answer that they were graced with. "I think that you will be fine, Alm."

"Thanks. I just know that we are going to win. We have to win." Alm said.

"I know. We cannot let those Zofian pigs take back this castle." Berkut agreed.

"Don't call them pigs, Berkut." Rinea chided jokingly. "Call them gluttons, it is more refined."

Berkut laughed and corrected his sentence. Alm looked at the sword that he had found inn the castle's treasury earlier that day. It was the royal sword. Berkut would have taken it if he cared for sword fighting.

"My lords," An emotionless voice rang out from the doorway to the throne room staircase. "The Deliverance has been sighted. They are charging the castle." Marla explained.

"So they attacked from the South..." Berkut muttered. "Come on Alm, Rinea. We have to aid Fernand, Zeke, and Luthier."

{Linebreak}

"Ahhh!" Celica screamed as she was hit with a barrage of arrows. She was attempting to get into the interior of the castle with Gray and Tobin behind her. Clive and Forsynth ran ahead of them, and they had managed to get past the guards that were guarding the entrance. The Deliverance began to flood the courtyard when they met their matches.

"So," A young boy's voice met Celica's ears. "You are the leader of this _Deliverance_ that is trying to threaten the might of the Rigelian empire. What a joke." Celica looked at the boy that she was going to fight. He had green hair that had a tint of blue in it, and he was wearing green armor with a green half- cape that had a fur lacing around the edges. He also had leather gauntlets adorning his hands. He rushed forward with his sword that Celica vaguely remembered seeing in her early childhood. She readier her steel sword as she prepared to battle with the boy. Their swords met and they both spun only to have their swords meet again. The boy slashed at Celica's arm, and he was hit with Celica's sword. Her sword hit his hand, and his gauntlet fell off. The boy hissed in pain as Celica's eyes widened. He had a birthmark that was just like hers.

Celica's surprise allowed for the boy to strike back, and he hit her midsection. Celica gasped in pain as her side was slashed open. She called for a retreat. Clive stopped fighting with the blonde paladin that he had been fighting with, and Lukas ended battle with the soldier that he ad been fighting. The paladin that was wearing similar garb to the boy that she had been fighting rushed over from where he was fighting Gray and Tobin to the green- haired boy. Celica and the Deliverance retreated from the castle.

{Linebreak}

"Did you hear? The Deliverance failed in taking back the castle from Rigel." A woman's tired voice told Mae as she was asking what had happened on the mainland.

"What is the Deliverance?" Boey asked the woman.

"They are a resistance group that is trying to free Zofia from Rigel's reign."

"I heard that their leader was a red- haired girl, that doesn't even have a formal military training." A man grumbled from the side.

"Are there any rumors about a princess?" Mae asked bluntly.

"You mean other than the one that she survived the fire? Not that I can recall." The woman responded.

"Why are you looking for a princess?" The man asked gruffly.

"We think that if we can find the princess then we can end this war." Boey responded.

The man laughed and told them this, "If you think that she can really help win this war then I will tell you one thing, if she was to be found, then she would probably be with the army that is hoping to free Zofia."

"Are you saying that the princess is fighting with the Deliverance?" Mae asked, but the man was already gone.

"Well..." Boey muttered. "This is the only clue that we have so far is what that old man said, so let's go to the Deliverance."

"I guess..." Mae grumbled before going to get the rest of their party to go to the Deliverance.

{Linebreak}

"I can't believe that I lost our first battle..." Celica was close to tears as she was laying in the recovery bed.

"There were relatively few losses on our side, and we did put quite a dent in the Rigelian army." Lukas said optimistically.

"That dosen't mean that I have an excuse for loosing this battle." Celica sighed.

"It was an experience. All experiences help us grow. Did you know that Clive's first battle as leader was an awful disaster? He had to retreat after five minutes." Lukas laughed.

Celica laughed as well, and she was feeling a lot better. Silque had healed her earlier, and Celica was estimated to have fully recovered by tomorrow morning.

"Leader Celica!" A messenger entered the room, and began to rely a message. "The is a group of people here that wish to enlist in the Deliverance."

Celica smiled and told the messenger to bring the group in.

The first person to walk in had pink hair that was pulled into pigtails, and appeared to be a mage. The second was a boy with tan skin, and also looked to bea mage. The third and fourth were as different as light and day. The man was tall, had orange hair, and was missing an eye. The girl was practically curling in on herself, and she appeared to be a cleric. The three that came in after them were an armored knight, an archer, and a mercenary. The pig tailed girl stepped forward and said,

"Hello, I am Mae, and this is my party. We would like to join the Deliverance."

Celica smiled and and asked for the rest of the party's names.

"This is Boey, Genny, Saber, Valbar, Leon, and Kamui." Mae said while she pointed to each respective person.

"It is nice to meet you. I only have one question to ask you before you can join the Deliverance. What is your reason for joining the Deliverance?" Celica asked.

"We wish to bring peace to Zofia, and we do not believe that this can be done under Rigel's rule. We want to help you fight the Rigelian empire, and restore peace to Zofia." Mae said.

Celica smiled and said, "Welcome to the Deliverance."

{Linebreak}

"Congratulations!" Luthier told Alm as he took a drink of his ale.

"To you as well." Alm replied.

"Did you see that green haired man that I was fighting, Lord Alm?" Marla asked as she took a sip of her fine wine.

"Yes, it was rather impressive." Alm smiled. They were all celebrating after their triumph over the Deliverance. Many drinks, cakes, and various fish were passed aroud to reward the soldiers. Berkut was just beginning to give Alm permission to drink when a messenger came in.

"My lords and ladies!" He began to recite the message. "You have been called upon to capture Grand Hero Mycen!"

They were all in shock for a moment until Berkut asked why. The messenger gave him a paper that was from the emporer.

The paper read,

 _Dear Alm and Berkut,_

 _I hope that you are well, but I am afraid that this is not a social letter. I have been informed of a plot that Sir Mycen may be planning to go against the Rigelian Empire. You need to take a small party with you to capture Sir Mycen. I believe that he currently resides in a small village to the west of you called Ram. You are to capture him and bring him back to the castle. Best of luck,_

 _Father/Uncle._

"Well..." Berkut muttered.

"May I accompany you and Alm to this village?" Rinea asked.

"Yeah, let's go pack." Alm said. Luthier, Zeke, Berkut, Rinea, and Marla all proceeded to do the same.

AN

I still plan to finish this story by April, and I hope that people will still like the story with these slightly rushed chapters.


	11. Chapter 11

"Are you prepared to leave, my lord?" A soldier asked as Alm's party mounted their horses.

"Yes. It will be easy to get Sir Mycen with this small of a group." Alm replied as they prepared to leave the courtyard.

"I suppose so, my lord. Have a save journey."

And with that the group left for the West to find Mycen.

{Linebreak}

Lukas heard small sniffles as he neared the recovery area. When he poked his head through the door he saw that Celica was quietly crying. Her arm was in a sling, and it was making good progress for how badly it was injured.

"Are you okay?" Lukas asked the leader.

Celica cleared her throat before stating, "Yeah, I'm fine."

Lukas smiled before telling Celica the next plan.

"Since we are not able to take the castle, we are going to take Desaix's fortress, so that they cannot retreat when we can take the castle." Lukas pulled a map out, and showed it to Celica. "We will go through the forest, and attack throught the back."

They continued to discuss their strategy until another soldier entered the room.

"Pardon my interruption, but there are some people here that wish to join the Deliverance."

Seven people walked in. A girl with pink pigtails that appeared to be a mage. A tan skinned boy that was also a mage. An orange haired man with an eyepatch. A pink haired cleric that looked like she was half hiding behind the man with the eyepatch. And there was also an armoured knight, an archer, and a mercenery.

"Hello, my name is Mae, and this is my party. We wish to join the Deliverance and fight for Zofia's peace."

"Nice to meet you Mae. Now, who might the rest of you be?" Celica questioned the rest of the group.

They introduced themselvss, and Celica welcomed them to the Deliverance.

"We need to leave soon if we want to catch the Rigelians off guard." Lukas said.

"Go where?" Mae asked with wide eyes.

"We are attacking Desaix's fortress. It is okay if you don't wish to go because you just joined." Celica said.

"No! No. It is okay. We can go with you. We are here to help." Mae said.

"There was no point to joining if we aren't gonna fight." Boey agreed.

"Well, let's get going."

{Linebreak}

"This place is absolutely dreadful." Rinea said as they passed another foul smelling pasture.

"I wish we could take the main road, but that would be too obvious, right, Sir Paranoid?" Alm jokingly said.

"I am not failing this mission because you didn't want to face a little bit of mud." Berkut said matter of factly.

"They are not going to be watching gor a small group of people who don't even really look like they fight for an army. Much less the same one." Alm rebuttaled.

"You can never be too prepared when attempting to attack a great hero." Berkut replied as the saw the edges of a town.

"I agree." Fernand said from the back of the group.

They got off of their horses, and tied them to some trees that were just out of sight of the town's edges. They approached the border, and they saw a young white haired boy. He looked extremely lonely, and they approached him.

"Hello," Rinea began "Does this happen to be Ram village?"

They boy looked suprised at the question, and replied that it was indeed Ram village.

"What do you need?" The boy asked.

"We are looking for a knight that we believe lives here." Rinea said kindly.

"The only knight that I know of is Mycen." He said.

"Splendid!" Rinea exclaimed. "What is your name?"

"My name is Kliff." Kliff responded to Rinea's inquiry.

"It is nice to meet you, Kliff." Zeke said.

"Likewise. Now, may you tell me yours?"

They all glanced at each other before agreeing silently to tell him their names. They all introduced themselves, and they were lead into the town's border.

Kliff brought them to a slightly run down house by the edge of the town. It had an orange tree outside of it, and you could see cattle in the distance. They approached the door. Well, Alm, Kliff, and Berkut did. The rest of them stayed by the orange tree, marveling at the amount of fruit on it.

Kliff knocked on the wooden door, and an elderly looking man opened it. The man's eyes widened slightly when he took in the slightly noble appearence of the two boys besides Kliff.

"Good evening, Sir Mycen. These people wished to speak with you." Kliff said respectfully.

Mycen nodded in response, and he ushered them inside. They sat at a wooden table, and Mycen offered each of the some bread and fruit.

"What do some young people such as yourself have to do with me? Not asking me to join the Deliverance, are you?" Mycen said when he sat down.

"We have to ask you, Sir Mycen, what is your opinion of Rigel?" Berkut asked as he subtly pulled a knife out of one of his pockets and hid it up his sleeve.

"That is quite a strange question. I have to ask you, why do you wish to know this?"

Alm took in his surroundins as Berkut responded. "Emporer Rudolph wishes to know where the people of his newly annexed land stand. He does plan to aide Zofia. But, to do that we need to know what the people think of Rigel."

"Well," Mycen massaged his head as he thought of his response. "I think that the empire could give more control to the people, and they could also try to not infuriate the people here as much."

"Is that so..." Berkut said as he slightly nodded, signaling for Alm to progress with the plan.

Alm leapt over the table, stunning Kliff and Mycen. Berkut took the opportunity to restrain Kliff and call for Rinea, Zeke, and Luthier to come and help them. Luthier cast a lightening spell at Mycen, and Mycen was stunned. Fernand attacked Mycen as well. Rinea took the chance to tie Kliff up with a rope once Berkut ran to Alm to help.

"Ngggh..." Kliff grunted as he squirmed. "Why are you - Nghhh! - doing this!"

Rinea smiled as she hit his temple with her golden dagger. "I apologise for this." Kliff blacked out into the darkness.

Zeke and Alm were both attacking Mycen with a lance and sword respectively. Fernand was keeping Mycen contained in a small area. Mycen was unarmed, so once Berkut joined the fight, it was over. Rinea tied him up as well.

"What do ee do with the kid ovr there?" Luthier asked Berkut.

Berkut contemplated this for a moment until he came to his decision. "We have to take him with us. He saw us attack Mycen, and I would prefer it if this town did not know that it was us that captured Mycen."

"Right." Alm said. "We need to leave. The town undoubtedly heard the rukus we caused. Zeke, you take Mycen. Fernand will take the Kliff kid." Alm commanded as they left the house, and headed baback towards their horses, oblivious to the set of eyes that was watching from the hay.

{Linebreak}

"When we get to the fortress the main point will be to take it." Clive said happily.

"Why is he so happy? We are about to go on another death mission." Gray said with a sigh.

"It's because his fiance is there." Claire said in a teasing tone that only a little sister could pull off.

Clive blushed a little, and denied it. Claire smiled and giggled before scampering off, most likely to tend to her pegasus.

"Do you really have a fiance that is in Desaix's fortress?" Tobin asked.

Clive sighed and said yes. He told the story about how his fiance, Matilda, was captured, and how she was being held hostage to prevent the Deliverance's progress.

With this information, Celoca had a new resolve to aide Clive in getting Matilda back. She would help in whatever way possible.

AN

I hope that you liked the chapter! It would have been done sooner, but the document did something weird and replaced itself with a document for my other story. That sucked.


	12. Chapter 12

"That's Desaix's fortress." Clive told Celica as they hid behind the trees that overlooked the looming fort. They were going to attack when the sun hit right in the guard's eyes. That way they would not be able to see the Deliverance until they were right on top of them. They prepared to charge the fort when Celica noticed a white cavalier unit atop a hill that over looked the fortress. She had to ignore him as she charged the fort with the Deliverance behind her. The guards were shocked when they saw an entire army attacking them.

Celica was slicing through her enemies when she saw a woman, Matilda, being pulled out of the fortress. The archers began to fire at her, and they tried to give her a slow and painful death. This set Clive into a fury. Clive rushed forward and attacked his foes with no mercy to be given. Gray followed behind him with Claire flying overhead to provide backup. Silque healed the wounded that she saw, and she attacked the soldiers whenever she got the chance to. Everyone else helped where they were 's arm was occasionally twinging in pain from where she had been sliced during the attack on the castle. Celica was doing a pretty good job of keeping an eye on her surroundings, and she did not think that anybody was behind her.

Celica was blind though to the witch that had teleported behind her.

The witch was just about to incapacitate Celica when the white knight sped forward and guarded her with his blessed lance. Celica spun around when she heard this. She saw a red haired man that looked strangely familiar. The thing that stuck out the most to her though was the white mask that shielded his eyes from her view. He killed the witch, and he turned to Celica.

"You should be more careful." He said to her before riding off.

"Wait!" Celica shouted just before she had to continue fighting. Clive was now fighting off the archers that were attacking Matilda. Celica rushed forward, pushing the red haired knight to the back of her mind, and attacked the fort commander, Slayde.

Celica clenched her jaw when she thought about the former encounters that she had with Slayde.

 _"Come on!" A young Gray shouted at Celica, Kliff, Faye, and Tobin as they ran through the fields that were just outside the gates. All of them were having fun when they heard a knight speaking in the distance._

 _"Isn't there a pathetic village nearby? I am absolutely famished, and I need to find something to entertain me." A snide voice said as they traipsed through the forest by Ram._

 _"There should be a town here." A different voice said to the first one._

 _"There had better be." He replied when he saw Faye, Kliff, and Gray. Tobin and Celica had not been caught as they were hiding from sight behind some tall bushes. When both of the soldiers turned their full attention to Gray and Faye, Celica and Tobin booked it towards Mycen's house. They ran as fast as they could, and barged into Mycen's house, panting heavily.  
_

 _"What is wrong?" Mycen asked as he hurried over to them._

 _"We were playing- huff- in the woods when- huff- we saw soldiers!" Tobin paused for breath, and Celica continued the story._

 _"They captured Faye, Kliff, and Gray!" Mycen told the kids to stay there, and he went to go get Faye, Kliff, and Gray. Celica and Tobin both quietly sat at the table as they waited for Mycen to return with their friends in tow.  
_

 _They sat there, engulfed in silence, for two whole hours. When they returned Kliff and Faye both looked traumatized, and Gray just looked infuriated. Celica and Tobin just rushed to their friends, and Celica surrounded them with a hug. Kliff immediately began to sob, and once Faye heard this she followed him in doing this. Gray sighed, and Mycen left the room to give the kids time to talk._

 _"What happened after we left?" Tobin asked after Celica released the trio from her embrace._

 _"They tried to take us as hostage to force the village to comply with whatever they wished." Gray said bitterly. "Then the purple haired one, I'm pretty sure he said his name was Slayde, slapped Kilff when he began to complain. Faye tried to stand up for him but she was smacked to. Then Mycen came, and he beat em' all back to the capital." Gary finished and the door opened again. Kliff's mother hurried into the room. Kliff ran to her, and he began to rub his face all over her skirt._

 _"Oh, my precious wittle baby... What did those awful men do to you? This is why we don't go past the gates, honey." His mom said in an overly doting voice._

 _"Don't try to blame Kliff!" Faye said with a glare._

 _His mom looked affronted at the idea and said,"I'm not blaming my darling son! I just want him to stay safe and sound. I am just warning agains the crueltys that can be found in the outside world." She clutched Kliff closer to her as she said the following. "I also think that your moms should try to be more careful with your precious little heads. It would be a shame if any monstrous people decided to harm them." She then took Kliff in her arms and left the house._

 _"Man, I really do not like that woman." Gray said._

 _"Yeah, she is probably just going to get way worse after this." Tobin agreed._

 _"I'm going to go back to my mom." Faye said, much happier than when she had first arrived._

 _"Yeah, see you later Faye." Tobin said._

 _"Bye, I hope you feel better."Celica said while she hugged Faye again._

 _"I will." She left._

 _"We need to leave as well." Gray said as he dragged Tobin out of the house. "Bye."_

 _"Bye." Celica said back to them as Mycen returned from the other room._

 _Celica sighed. "Why did iI run? Why didn't I stay to help? They went through that, and I ran away."_

 _Mycen put a comforting arm around her shoulders, and told her, "It would have been worse had you stayed. They would have seen you and you would of had to move." Mycen reasoned. "It was for the best that you ran." Mycen got up and pulled out something from the kitchen. "Now, I was saving this for later, but I believe that you should get a treat for how smart you were." Mycen and handed Celica a cookie from the bakers._

 _Celica's eyes lit up, and she happily thanked Mycen and began to happily munch on her cookie._

Celica shook her head as her sword clashed with Slayde's. She used her anger that was from her experiences to fuel her attacks. Slayde's eyes widened when he saw Celica.

"Aren't you that girl - That princess!" Celica impaled Slayde before he could spout anymore of her secrets. Slayde's mouth was still open, and blood began to fly out of his mouth as he fell from his horse.

The battles around her halted, and the Rigelias began to surrender. Celica had killed the main commander.

Clive and Matilda embraced each other, and some turned their eyes away when they locked lips.

Celica turned and looked happily at her friends. And, not for the last time, thought about how Kliff was doing.

AN

I hope you liked the chapter. I had a lot of fun writing the flashback, and if you could not tell, I modeled Kliff's mother after Camilla. I hope that nobody minds.


	13. Chapter 13

"We need to make haste to the castle." Lukas told Celica and Clive immediately after the battle.

"Why?" Celica asked.

"One of our spies has just discovered that all of the generals, with the exception of Desaix himself, have left the castle. This is the prime time to attack."

Clive and Celica were both shocked at the revelation. Why would all of the generals leave just after an attack on their castle?

"That is a big deal. We should leave here immediately." Clive told Celica, who agreed. The Deliverance packed up swiftly, and they marched towards the castle. At the rate that they were going at, they would reach castle Zofia by daybreak the next morning.

As they were marching, the pig tailed girl, Mae, and the tan skinned boy, Boey, both approached Celica. Celica greeted them, and they began to talk.

"So, where are you from?" Celica asked the new recruits.

"We are from the Novis Priory." Boey said.

"I see. My grandfather told me about that place. I may have been sent there if he did not take me in." Celica told them.

"We know." Mae said before saying. "We heard that you were the princess of Zofia during the battle." Mae's words shocked Celica in her tracks.

Boey saw this and said, ""Wait, we are here to help you save Zofia. We were sent by the priory to help the princess save Zofia. We thought that you could be in the Deliverance."

Celica relaxed and began to walk again. "I see. So you were sent by the priory to aide me in helping Zofia?"

"Yep!" Mae said at the same time that Boey said yes.

They continued to make small talk well into the night.

{Linebreak}

"Why did we not think to prepare for an extra person? Especially an extra _old_ person." Berkut griped as the group had to stop again for the horses to take a break.

"Because Rigel does not just have horses to spare." Alm replied.

"I am aware, but this is ridiculous. How long are these two going to stay asleep anyways? We didn't hit them that hard." Berkut poked Kliff in the face.

"These Zofians are just weak little bugs. They can't handle being hit harder than a hug." Alm joked and joined Berkut in poking the white haired boy in the face.

"Stop that, it is very rude to poke people in the face whilst they are sleeping." Rinea said.

"He is sleeping. It dosen't matter." Berkut rebuttled jokingly.

"Do you want him to wake up, and be all squirmy the rest of the way back to the castle?" Rinea put her hands on her hips. "If so, then be my guest and keep poking him." This caused both Berkut and Alm to stop poking him, and they both went back to being bored.

"So, why do you think that father wants Mycen?" Alm asked Berkut as they laid on the grass.

"I don't know. Maybe he knows something that Uncle wishes to know." Berkut thought.

"Yeah. Maybe." Alm said.

They were silent for a few moments after that.

"Let's continue. The horses have rested long enough." Berkut got up, and he began to prepare the horses.

{Linebreak}

"Remember, everyone, we are taking the castle today. If we cannot do this, then we have no chance of standing up to Rigel!" Celica shouted to her army as they came upon the castle. It stood tall and proud. With the flag of Rigel waving from the tops of the towers. They were going to change that.

The Dliverance began to attack the castle. They used the same tactics that they had used on the fortress earlier. The cavalier units charged, mercenaries assisted from behind, fliers aided from the sky, cleric healed the wounded, and the mages and archers helped from behind. The Deliverance soon reached Desaix. The man had put up a tough fight, but they won because of a surprise attack from Saber.

All was silent for a moment as the soldiers from both sides looked at Desaix's fallen body. Then, all at once, the Deliverance cheered as loudly as they could. They suppressed the remaining Rigelians, and they entered the castle.

It was just as Celica had remembered it to be. There was gold everywhere, and the throne room had red satin lacing decorating man of the things there.

Many of the soldiers were in awe at what they were looking at, and most of them immediately went to explore the rest of the castle. The only ones that remained with Celica in the throne room, were her friends from Ram.

"Does this place scream 'fancy rich people' or what!" Tobin exclaimed as he took in his surroundings.

"Nooooo... This is just the place of literal royalty, are you stupid Tobin? Of course it is going to be fancy." Gray said as he bonked Tobin on the head.

"I was just saying! Sheesh. Can't tell when I'm joking." Tobin said as he rubbed his head.

Faye sighed and said, "You two are so immature. Claire isn't ever going to like either of you if you cannot act your age."

"I don't need to impress Claire with manners!" Tobin said just when Claire and Clive entered the throne room, but Tobin didn't see either of them. "I have my manly muscles!"

"Who are you showing off for?" Claire asked.

Tobin's face was one of pure shock and embarrassment. Gray and Faye just laughed.

"Claire! I was just- uhhh.- comparing my muscles to Gray's scrawny ones!" Gray stopped laughing and began to compare their arms in earnest.

Claire rolled her eyes. "Ugh. You boys are so immature. Not at all like you, Brother." Claire smiled at Clive, and they both continued to make their way to the throne room balcony.

"Perfect. Now she thinks that I'm immature." Gray sighed.

"I have a lady who wishes for an audience with leader Celica!" One of the Deliverance's messenger called out.

"I will meet with them now." Celica said.

"Hello, Celica." Tobin's sister, Adelle, walked into the throne room.

"Sister?" Tobin was surprised that she was here.

"I have to tell you all something." She spoke quickly.

"What?" Faye asked.

"It's Kliff and Mycen. They have both been taken by the Rigelians."

"How do you know this?" Gray asked while Celica and Faye both panicked.

"I was heading off to visit Mycen, because he has one of the best orange trees in the village, but a group of people were already there. There were paladins, a mage, a blue haired woman, and two people that were talking to Mycen and Kliff inside. So, I waited by the hay and Mycen and Kliff were attacked. They did no stand a chance. They were both taken by them, and the last thing that I heard was that they could not let the town know that they took Mycen and Kliff. I came here as quickly as I could to tell you."

"Why would they take Kliff?" Gray asked.

"To keep him from being a witness." Celica said. "We need to progress to the border now. They will knoe=w that we took the castle, and they will try to escape to Rigel. We needto capture them before they succeed."

"Right." The others agreed.

{Linebreak}

"Dammit!" Berkut said when they saw the castle from afar. They were all on top of a hill that overlooked they castle. "That Zofian scum took the castle."

"We just have to go to the border then. We have to be swift though. If they catch us, then it's over." Alm said as he rode off with Zeke following him.

"We should get there tomorrow if we go fast enough." Berkut said when he caught up to Alm.

"We cannot have any breaks. Let's hope that these prisoners say asleep long enough." Zeke said from beside Alm.

"Yes." Alm said. "Let's hope."

AN

I probably won't be able to write much during the next week because I am going to go visit my Great Grandmother, and she does not have any wifi. I hope that you liked the chapter, and I hope to be done with this story by April 10th.


	14. Chapter 14

"Everyone, move out!" Celica commanded the Deliverance once she gathered everyone. They all hurried to follow her orders, and Celica was quickly left to her own thoughts. She was going to be traveling at the back this time instead of the front. It would help to add speed to the journey.

They planned to reach the border quickly, and as she marched, Celica allowed her thoughts to wander. 'Why did that boy have the same mark as me?' Celica thought back to the green haired boy that she fought at the castle the first time. He was quite skilled with a sword Celica noted. She also thought about the priests that had come to aide her. What was their ultimate goal? It couldn't be to just help free Zofia. These thoughts plauged her mind until Lukas approached her.

Lukas fell into step beside her as he began to speak to her.

"Are you nervous?" He asked.

"A little. This battle has a lot of stakes. One of my best friends lives depends on us winning. We cannot lose once we reach the border." Celica responded.

"I agree. The people in this area will be thankful if we completely drive out Rigel." Lukas told Celica as he nodded to some village folk that were already looking at the Deliverance in awe.

Celica smiled at the villagers, and she followed the rest of the army into the town that they had entered. The town had been ravaged by Desaix's army, and many of the townspeople were thanthankful when they had heard that the Deliverance was going to be helping them.

A young girl approached Celica and Lukas. She introduced herself as Delthea. She said that she wished to join the Deliverance. When asked why, all that she said was that they guilted her brother into fighting for them, and that she wanted her brother back.

"Well, Delthea, welcome to the Deliverance. I hope that we are able to find your brother." Celica smiled at Delthea.

"Thank you. I hope that we are able to beat the Rigelians, and get my softie older brother back."

{Linebreak}

"We are going to go around the castle, and through Greith's Citadel." Berkut said from atop his horse as he pointed at a map of Zofia.

"Why, milord, are we going that way?" Fernand asked Berkut. They had grown father close during the trip from Ram village to just East of the Zodian castle.

"This way we can hopefully avoid the Deliverance, and we may be able to recruit Greith for Rigel. He does hate Zofians." Berkut put the map into his sadle side pucket, and he began to ride off onto the old, overgrown path that lead from the castle to the Eastern areas of Zofia.

Alm blindly followed him as he looked at the prisioners that were riding of Fernand's and Zeke's horses. The pale, white haired boy had began to stir, and Fernand had knocked him out again. Mycen did not appear close to awakening.

Alm was suddenly knocked off of his horse by a green haired woman that was riding on a pegasus. She too was knocked off of her mount, and was getting up when another girl rode into the clearing that they were in.

"I'm sorry. I should have been paying more attention. Are you hurt?" The green haired girl asked when she got up. She extended a hand towards Alm.

"No. I am fine, but please do pay better attention to where you are flying that thing." Alm said as he grasped her hand and was pulled up.

"I will. Tell me, have you seen any of Greith"s men around here? We are looking for him." The woman gestured to the blue haired girl that appeared to be accompanying her.

"No. We have not seen any of his men, but we do know that you are going in the wrong direction. His citadel is that way." Berkut said, and he pointed a finger in the opposite direction. "But, before you go,. I must ask why you are headed there."

"He took our sister, and we are going to get her back." The blue haired one said.

"That is terrible." Rinea said. "We can accompany you. We were headed there ourselves." Rinea told the sisters. Berkut nodded in agreement.

"I see. Well, if it isn't any trouble we would love to accompany you there." The older one said. "My name is Palla, and this here is my slightly younger sister, Catria. The one that Greith kidnapped was my youngest sister, Est."

"We had best continue, then. Greith isn't known for keeping prisioners for very long. If we hurry than we can get there by tomorrow morning." Fernand said.

"Yes let's go." Alm agreed.

{Linebreak}

"Leader Celica, we are approaching the Sleuth gates." A nameless soldier told Celica.

"Thank you." Celica dismissed him.

"I scouted ahead. There does not appear to be anybody attacking the border. It is clear." Lukas told Celiced with a respectful bow.

"Thank you for doing that, Lukas. I would be lost without you to guide me." Lukas laughed.

"Yes. I suppose that you would be."

They continued to make small talk until they reached the border. Celica approached the man that kept it running, and she asked if he could open it.

"Of course I can." He said. "The gate at the temple of Mila was opened by a mysterious man. He had the ring of inheritance. It showed that he was he prince of Zofia. I wish that I had been there to see it myself. It must have been a glorious sight." The old man sighed dreamily before opening the gate. Water rushed into Zofia's dry rivers, and ,once again, the lands of Zofia were watered. This did leave Celica to wonder though, who was the man that had opened the gates at the temple of Zofia? As far as she knew, she was the only one to have survived.

"What are you thinking about?" Clive asked Celica.

Celica shook her head and smiled at Clive. "Nothing. Just reflecting."

"A lot has happened these past few days. You should get some rest while you still can."

"Yeah. I will."

{Linebreak}

"Everything is ready, milord." Hestia bowed to a figure cloaked in darkness.

"Good. Good. We require him as a powpower source. That blasted kig has done a fair job at guarding him from me for now, but he will not be able to keep it up for long. That boy, Alm, will be mine."

"Yes, my lord." A different man walked forward. "My daughters shall retrieve him for you. You shall have him soon." The man bowed to the god.

"Yes. I shall." The god dismissed all that were present.

AN

I don't think that I will be able to finish this by the end of the month like I had planned to. It will be done by the end of April though. If not, then everyone has my permission to be angry with me.


	15. Chapter 15

"We are almost to Greith's Citadel." Luthier said when he returned from scouting ahead.

"Good. So, the plan is to get your sister, and if he refuses, then we storm the place." Berkut told everyone.

"Yes. I don't think that he is going to hand her over. It isn't something that he would do." Alm told Berkut.

"I know, but we have to try. Rinea, will you stay with the prisooners?" Berkut asked his fiance.

"Of course. We cannot have them escaping." Rinea told Berkut.

"No we can't." Berkut agreed. "Rinea, stay here. I can see the Citadel gates."

The gates were large, and they had two guards guarding it at the top, and two at the bottom. Berkut and Alm approached at first, and they attempted to civilly ask for entry.

"No. Greith does not allow for people to enter." Guard one said from the top of the gates.

"We are the princes of Rigel, and we command you to grant us entry." Alm said in the most authorative voice that he could muster.

"Greith dosen't listen to the commands of fancy people like you. Go away. You aren't getting in."

"You want to bet?" Alm said as he nodded to Luthier. "Get them Luthier!" Alm commanded the mage.

Luthier cast a fire spell at the soldier, killing him instantly. The guards at the bottom were taken by surprise, and they fell to Alm and Zeke.The other guard at the top yelled a weak "Don't kill me!" Before he opened the gate. The group marched forward, and they were confronted by two other people. They both had deep purple hair, and they both looked like they meant business. The woman was a mage whilst the man was a mercenary.

They both marched forward with their respective groups. The woman commanded witches, and the man commanded the group of mercenaries.

"Stop!" Alm yelled just as it looked like a battle was about to begin. "You don't have to fight us. I bet that we can pay you double whatever Greith is paying you, and you won't have to come with us once we are done." Alm finished confidently.

"How would you get this money?" The man asked gruffly.

"Simple. We are the Rigelian royal army, therefore, we have complete access to the royal treasury. We would be willing to pay you if you sided with us against Greith." Alm bribed.

The two of them looked at each other, and they both simultaneously agreed to fight for the Rigelians. Alm smiled and welcomed the duo into their army. They two leaders of the groups introduced themselves as Deen and Sonya.

"I don't care about Greith. All that I care about is that I get my money." Deen said gruffly.

"Same here. Except I prefer to not get my own hands dirty." Sonya agreed.

"We can always use more help, and you two seem rather capable." Alm said.

"We are some of the best in Greith's army." Sonya boasted.

"Good. We need more able bodies in our army." Berkut said.

"We are able. We won't dissapoint." Deen promised.

"Good. Now, let's go get Greith." Alm commanded.

{Linebreak}

"Are we ready?" Lukas vaugly asked Celica. "To march on Rigel, I mean." He clarified.

"Yes. Once our scouts return, then we will be ready to attack Rigel with all of our might." Celica replied.

"Good. We must have clear heads when we attack Rigel." Lukas hugged Celica. "I hope that we are prepared for this. This will be our greatest battle yet."

"I know. I cannot let anyone down. They are all counting on me to win this for Zofia." Celica said as she returned Lukas' hug.

"Uhhh... Are we interupting a moment here? Because if we are, then we will gladly leave you to it." Gray's voice came from the entry, and Celica and Lukas blushed lightly before seperating.

"No. We weren't doing anything." Celica stammered.

Tobin laughed. "Sure you weren't. I really don't care. And neither does Gray. Right?"

"Nope." Gray sang out. "I couldn't care less if you and carrot top were dating." He assured.

Celica also laughed. "Well we aren't, but it is good to know for future reference." Celica stopped laughing, becoming serious. "So, what did you need to speak to me about?"

"The scouts have confirmed no sightings of the Rigelian royalty. So, in all likelihood, Kliff and Mycen have been taken into Rigel." Tobin said to Celica.

"That's not good at all. We need to make haste into Rigel than. We need to save grandpapa and Kliff before anything happens to them." Celica began to stalk out of the room. "Come on. We should stastart to get organized now. We could get to a village by sundown." And with that, Celica left to get her army ready to march on Rigel.

"How close are Celica and Mycen?" Lukas asked once the three of them were alone.

"Well, Mycen raised Celica ever since she was eight. She came to our village, and sge was a total brat. She was rude, short, and spoke like she was better than us. But Mycen made her apologize, and she really came down to Earth after that. We honestly don't know too much about her. But, we do know that her and Mycen are really close. All of us think that there is something more there, but we won't pry until she is ready to tell us." Gray replied to Lukas.

"We know that it is hard to imagine her being rude these days, but back thethen, she acted like a spoilt little princess. It was awful." Tobin said.

"It is hard to think that Celica was anything but sweet." Lukas agreed.

"Don't dwell on it. If you like her, than you should go for it. We know that you like her." Tobin winked at Lukas as he blushed.

"I guess that I am just trying to get to know her better before I try anything." Lukas admitted.

"Well, I think that you two get along great together, if my opinion counts for anything." Gray aaid as he patted Lukas on the back.

"Thanks." Lukas said.

"No problem. After all, you are one of us bros now, and one of the things that we do is help with girl problems." Tobin said.

"Thank you. It means a lot to me." Lukas thanked Tobin.

{Linebreak}

"How... How did this happen!?" Greith shouted as Alm sliced through him with his sword.

"You didn't have any help. You can't get anywhere without people helping you." Alm said as he pulled his sword out. Greith groaned before he fell into the eternal sleep.

"You did good, cousin." Berkut congratulated Alm.

"You too. You killed more enemies than I did."

"You fought harder ones though."

"Whatever. Let's go find that girl now." Alm strutted into the citadel.

They went down to the cellar area, and they heard a loud, ear peircing scream.

"Oh! Yay! Somebody is finally here to rescue me!" A bubbly pink haired girl said from behind bars.

Palla and Catria rushed forward from behind Alm and Berkut. They hugged the girl from the other side of the bars.

"Oh, Est. We were so worried about you." Catria said beneath tears.

"I was too, Catria, Palla." Est was now crying as well.

Berkut approached the crying trio with a key that he had found on a table. He unlocked the cell, and he also unlocked the one that was next to it. A yellow haired mercenary walked out of the cell.

"Thanks for freeing me. I had come here to free these people, but I kind of got caught." He laughed. "My name is Jesse. It is nice to meet you."

"Ah! Yes. My name is Est. Thanks for helping my sisters get me. I would like to help you if that is alright." Est said to Alm.

"If the young lady is going to be helping than I want to as well." Jesse said.

"Very well. You can come with us." Alm agreed with their requests.

"Thank you! You won't regret this." Est cheerfully said.

"We would like to come as well." Sonya's voice said from the staircase.

"Don't you two want to stay here, and take over for Greith?" Alm asked.

"We can get more money if we go with you, and we left our comrades in control. They will do fine." Sonya said to Alm.

"Well, if you guys really want to go, then you can come with us." Alm told the duo.

"Great, but, just so that you know, we do still expect to get paid." Sonya told Alm.

"I wouldn't expect anything less than that from the likes of you." Alm replied.

AN

Another short chapter. I hope that you liked it. I am trying to hurry, but it will still take some time. Please tell me what you think about it. Until next time.


	16. Chapter 16

"All of you are planning on coming?" Berkut's eyes wandered over the group of people that suddenly decided to come with them to aide Rigel. The group consisted of Palla, Catria, Est, Jesse, Sonya, and Deen. Why they all decided to come, Alm did not know, but, it was more allies so who cares?

"Yes. We need to repay you for helping us free Est. We couldn't have done it without you." Palla said in response to Berkut.

"Ehh. We won't have anything better to do, and we will get paid." Sonya added.

"I go wherever I'm needed, and you guys are trying to win a war, so you need all of the help that you can get." Jesse said with a wide smile.

"Very well. You are going to be expected to fight at the best of your ability." Alm told them, and he began to ride towards the Temple of Mila. "We will go through the temple, and we will get to the tower of Duma. After that we are going to use the underground tunnels to get back to the castle."

"Nggghh..." Kliff groaned as he awakened. "What... What happened?" He mumbled before opening his eyes. Kliff's eyes widened when he realized where he was and who he was with. Kliff immidiately began to struggle against his bonds, but he could not escape.

"Stop that! We cannot let you escape." Berkut growled at the boy.

"Why have you taken me?!" Kliff shouted once he stopped struggling.

"We were told to take Mycen, but you were there so we had to take you as well." Berkut stated calmly.

"Why take Mycen?" Kliff asked, slightly more calm than he was before.

"We don't know yet, but it was what we were told to do by my uncle. That is reason enough." Berkut stated.

"You just do whatever he asks of you?" Kliff inquired calmly.

"He is the emporer after all." Alm told Kliff, who was silenced when he heard this.

"We are approaching the Temple of Mila." Zeke told Berkut once he retured from scouting ahead.

"Good. I believe that the temple is still under father's control." Alm said.

The group approached the temple, which looked as if it had seen far better days. There were faithful crawling all over the holy grounds, and the foundation was cracked. Alm absorbed his surroundings and gazed at the top of the temple.

One of the faithful approached, he wore a marune cloak and he had greying hair. He slowly walked over to Alm, and he slowly stroked one of his long, bony fingers down Alm's cheek. Alm shivered slightly when he felt the cold that radiated from the faithful one's finger.

"So... you are the prince of Rigel... It is an _honor_ to meet you, _in the flesh._ " The voice sent shivers down Alm's spine, and shook him to his very core. Berkut's eyes narrowed, and he roughly shoved the faithful man away from his cousin's face. Berkut stepped in front of Alm and said,

"Excuse me, but that is not the way that you should treat your betters. Now, be useful and fetch us a carriage to travel to Duma's tower." Berkut commanded, and sent the man away. "Did he harm you?" Berkut asked once he was gone from sight.

"No... But why did he touch me? Don't the faithful still serve our emporer?" Alm furrowed his eyebrows.

"Don't ask me what goes on in the demented heads of the faithful." Berkut sighed. "Still, I wouldn't go near them for a while. Just to be safe."

"Of course..." Alm said in a daze.

"The faithful have prepared the carriage, milords." Luthier informed Berkut and Alm.

"Good, lets get going. I don't like being here. There are far too many faithful here to be comfortable."

{Linebreak}

"Halt!" A green haired sword user shouted from across the ditch that seperated the tow sides of Valentia. "If you worms crossthis border, then you will be waging war with the entirety of the Rigelian Empire."

Celica inhaled as she kicked a rock out of her way. "Your empire waged war when they took the Zofian castle. Now, for Zofia, Forward!" Celica exclaimed and rushed forward with the Deliverance behind her. The opposing army charged forward as well, and the swordsman exchanged blows with Celica.

Saber and Tobin made good progress on all of the witches that were littering the battlefield. Claire swooped down and finished them off before returning to the sky. 'Matilda and Clive wotked well together', Celica noted in her mind as she swung her sword at the swordsman.

"I cannot allow you worms to trespass onto our soil!" The man grunted as he exchanged another blow with Celica. "Or else, my honor as Sir Blake of the Rigelian empire will be tarnished!"

Sir Blake, as Celica now knew him to be, was a good sword user. He was swift, but not swift enough. Celica moved faster than he could, and she pierced him on her steel sword. He gurked, and red, copper smelling blood spilled out from his mouth. Celica pulled her sword out just as he began to fall limp.

"The... The might... of the Rige- Rigelian... empire shall be... eternal..." Blake chuckled weakly. "You cannot take that from us. You may take our land, and even our lives, but you will never take our honor..." Those were the last words he spoke before taking his final breath and dying.

Celica had no time to ponder these words, however, as there was still a battle to be won. She pushed forward, and partnered with Mae to take out more of the cavaliers that were scattered on the border grounds.

After another few hours, the battle was won. Tobin had sustained a rather ghastly wound, and Delthea's side had been cut rather deeply by a sharp lance. Considering the battle that they had just won though, that was a small amount of injuries.

"Congrats, Celica, you fought bravely. I was impressed, but I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised that you did well. You have lead us this far." Lukas spoke to Celica.

"I couldn't have done it without you. All of you." Celica said, gesturing to the rest of the army.

"Yes, but you are the person who leads us. We would be lost without you." Lukas continued.

"If you say so."

"I do."

The duo continued to speak until Clive approached them.

"Are we ready to progress, Celica?" He asked the red haired woman.

"Yes. We need to get to Kliff and grandpapa before something happens to them." Celica stepped to the front of the army, and prepared her loudest shouting voice. "Everyone!" She called for attention. "We need to continue forward, let's move out!"

They marched forward into Valentia, with two pairs of eyes watching over them. One good, one bad. The bad one planned their next move, and the good one planned to save his sister, no matter the cost.

AN

This chapter was relatively easy to write. I hope that you all enjoyed it. Blake is an actual character in the game. He is actually one of the few bosses that I remember.


	17. Chapter 17

"Is it just me, or does anyone else feel like we are being watched?" Rinea asked as she shivered in Rigel's cold climate.

"It's not just you. Alm, do you feel watched?" Berkut asked.

"I always feel watched. This isn't too different from how I normally feel." Alm admitted.

"Why?" Rinea asked at the same time that Berkut asked, "Who or what would be watching you?"

"I don't know. I just... Always feel... Like somebody is watching me and laughing."

"Hmmm..." Berkut hummed. "I wouldn't worry about it too much. After all, Albein, if anything does happen then the entirety of Rigel will be able to help you. Not to mention Uncle." Berkut tried to reassure Alm.

"Your name is Albein?" Luthier asked as he walked to the front of the group.

"Yeah. I prefer to go by Alm, though, because it's easier to say."

"Albein sounds a lot more regal, though." Rinea interjected.

"Yeah, thats the name that I will use in court and when I become the emporer. Not amongst my friends."

"Yes, that makes sense." Zeke agreed.

"Milords." Hestia said, appearing from nowhere.

"Gah!" Alm shouted. "Hestia, you shouldn't sneak up on me like that."

"Apologies, but I need to tell you to not go to Duma tower." Gestia said evenly, but hurriedly.

"What? Why?" Alm asked her.

"It... It is-" Hestia was cut off by Marla appearing.

"I'm sorry, milords. My sister is being a _naughty_ child, and she is spouting lies. You must go to Duma tower swiftly. The Deliverance has blockaded that area, and you are needed at the castle." Marla said.

"Then let us hurry to the tower. We need to help Uncle defend against the Deliverance." Berkut said. "Are you two going to be accompanying us?" He asked Marla and Hestia.

"Yes." Marla answered for them both.

"Let's go. We must get to Father quickly." Alm rode away with his party following him.

{Linebreak}

"Look Celica!" Mae pointed ahead. "There is a kid up there!"

"What?" Celica looked at the you purple haired child that was ahead. The child was sleeping on the ground. He had neck length hair and was wearing a deep purple cloak with gold embroidery on it. He was snoring softly.

"What are we going to do?" Gray asked. "We can't leave a kid stranded in the middle of the road. Even if he is Rigelian."

"I know." Celica said just as Clive approached her.

"There is a village up ahead. Maybe the child is one of theirs? We should take him with us to see." Clive stated.

"Yes. That is what we will do."

Lukas moved forward to pick up the child, and then the group proceeded onward.

The town was, in one word, depressing. The town's homes looked like they had been repeatedly ransacked and battered. The Deliverance dispersed, and Tobin and Celica moved to the shopping area of the village. They walked around, and they saw a woman that was sobbing by her booth.

"What is the matter?" Tobin asked her.

"It- It's my s- son." She sobbed out. "He joined the Rigelian army a while ago, and I- I haven't even _heard_ from him! I'm sure that the empire is stopping him from sebding letters!" She sobbed, and a mint haired woman came out of a nearby house.

"Oh, mother, it'll be okay. Zeke will come back, I'm positive." She said. "Who are you?" She asked Celica and Tobin.

"My name, if you really want to know, is Tobin." He bowed slightly. "However, the real question, milady, is what is your name?" Tobin tried to flirt.

She scoffed, and told Tobin, "I have a boyfriend, and if you really want to know, my name is Tatiana."

Tobin deflated when he heard that she had a boyfriend, and Celica introduced herself as the leader of the Deliverance.

"Ohh... You're that group of Zofians that are against my Zeke!" Tatiana glared at Celica and Tobin. "Stay back!"

"Hey, we can help you, we don't want to cause you any harm." Celica tried to calm Tatiana.

"If you really want to help, than you can stop Jerome from wrecking havoc on our village." She told Celica.

"Who is Jerome?" Celica asked.

"He is an awful man that is always destroying our homes and buisinesses. He along with that witch Nuibaba." Tatiana said grumpily.

"How about this, the Deliverance will defeat Jerome, and save your village." Tobin said with confidence.

"Can you really defeat Jerome?!" Tatiana's eyes widened, and her mother also appeared to be quite shocked.

"Yeah, why not? I mean, you are people. We should help you." Tobin shrugged. Celica sighed before agreeing with Tobin.

"Really? Thats great! If it isn't any trouble, then I would like to help you. Can I come with you to destroy Jerome?" Tatiana asked, much to the dismay of her mother.

"What?! No, my darling. There will be no fighting Jerome for you. You can't die. You can't!" She bagan to sob again.

"No, mother. I won't die, but I have to help them fight against the Rigelian empire. They don't care for us, and I want to be one of the people to help take Emporer Rudolph down." Tatiana tried to reason with her mother.

Her mother sighed and said, "If you must, than I will allow it." Tatiana cheered and hugged her mother.

"Thank you!" Tatiana turned to Celica and said, "When do we leave?"

Celica chuckled. "Whenever the rest of the Deliverance is ready."

Lukas walked up to them, still carrying the child.

"Celica, I asked everyone in the town, and none of the claim to have ever seen the child in their lives." Celiac frowned.

"Maybe he came from a small farm nearby?" She asked.

Tatiana shook her head. "There aren't any farms near here that don't have people living in the village. There is no way that he is from around here."

The child began to stir in Lukas' arms, and Lukas, seeing this, put him down. His eyes opened, and they were a stunning red color. They looked around and he sat up.

"Who are you?" He asked.

Cleica answered first. "I, am Celica, the leader of the Deliverance. This is Tobin, Lukas, and Tatiana." Celica introduced each person.

"Who are you, and where is your family?" Lukas asked.

"I... I am Grima. My father lives in Duma tower."

AN

I hope you liked the chapter. Please tell me what you think. I am going to probably finish this in like seven or nine chapters.


	18. Chapter 18

"So," The purple haired mage that used to serve Greith began to speak with Alm. "You are pretty close to those two faithful girls."

Alm was surprised when she began to speak to him. They had never really spoken before, but now was as good of a time as any to get to know her.

"Yeah, they were some of the only people my age that were allowed in the castle. So, we grew pretty close over the years." Alm explained, thinking about all of the good times that he had with them. Pranking Berkut, stealing extra food when they could have just asked, pranking Berkut, hiding his father's crown, pranking Berkut, and all sorts of other things that probably made life harder for everyone else.

"Hmmm..." Sonya hummed, looking lost in though. "That must have been nice..." Sonya left him alone after that.

"What did she want to talk with you about, milord?" Hestia asked Alm. She was now floating next to him like it was nothing.

"Just asking about how we knew each other." Alm replied.

"Really? That's it?" Hestia asked with clear disbelief in her voice.

Alm had no idea why she was suspicious, but he tried to quell her suspicion. "Yeah. That's it. I've really never talked to her that much."

"Okay. If you say so." There was silence, Hestia was just floating quietly by Alm as he rode on his horse.

"Hey, Princeling, those prisioners are awake." Deen's voice informed Alm.

"Thank you for telling me, but _don't_ call me a princeling." Alm heard Deen's reply as he went to check on the prisioners.

"I didn't call you _a_ princeling, I called you _the_ Princeling."

A ignored this, and proceeded to the area that the prisoners were at. Kliff glared at Alm when he approached, however, Mycen just looked at him with a sad, far off look.

"Hello, I believe that you are Prince Albein?" Mycen asked in a tone that did not belong to a prisoner speaking to his captor, but a grandfather speaking to his grandson.

"Yes, and I am going to be taking you to castle Rigel. You will be quiet for the remainder of this journey." Alm turned aroud, but was halted in his footsteps by Mycen speaking again.

"Are you aware what the mark on your hand means?" He asked.

Alm was shocked by this question. "How do you know about that?"

Mycen chuckled quietly. "I was good friends with your father, and if worst case scenario was to occur, than you were to be sent to me." Even Kliff's eyes widened when Mycen stated this.

Alm's eyes narrowed. "Lies. My father would never send me away, and this mark means nothing." With those final words spoken, Alm turned away completely and rode to the front of the group.

{Linebreak}

"Duma Tower? Are you positive that he lives there?" Celica asked worridly when she heard that his parents lived there. He didn't appear to be one of the faithful, but appearences could be deceiving.

"Yes. I do not make mistakes, and I am positive that father dwells in that tower now."

"Then how did you get to this village, and where is your mother?" Saber asked.

"My mother cares not for me, and I... I don't remember... It is so... So frustrating, why can I never remember anything?" He muttered angrinly to himself.

Celica felt pity for the boy, and she decided that she would give jim an offer. "Would you like to accompany us? We will eventually get to Duma's Tower, and maybe we can help you remember your lost memories. What do you say? Will you come with us?"

He contemplayed this for a moment or two, before agreeing.

Celica smiled, but before she could say anything else, Tatiana intruded on the conversation.

"I would like to help as well! I can fight, and I have a good reason to fight. Please, Celica, let me help you free Rigel!" Tatiana pleaded with the red haired girl.

"Of course you can come. We would love to have your help." Celica said.

Tatiana smiled and left to begin her packing.

"Celica, we must proceed if we wish to pass the mountains where the necrodragons roam." Lukas informed Celica, and the Deliverance proceeded.

AN

This was really short, I know, but I needed to post something, and I needed a small exposition chapter. The next one will be longer.


	19. Chapter 19

"There it is. Duma's Tower." Marla pointed off into the dark purple skys that surrounded the tower that loomed over Rigel like an enormous monster waiting to catch it's prey. Alm glanced at the girl who was behind him. Hestia had been strangely silent since they departed.

"Let's get going than. I hate to be in this place's presence for much longer." Berkut said, calling Alm's attention back to him.

"Yes. The sooner the better." Marla smiled that strange smile of hers before she floated off of the ground, and teleported to the tower with some parting words, "I will go tell them to prepare for your arrival."

The group marched forward, carefully going around the large masses of poisonous, acidic waters that surrounded the place. When they reached the tower, they were greeted by a cantor named Dolth. He had the familiar purple face that was common amongst the faithful. He smiled, and Alm noted with disgyst that his teeth were sharp, and had faint stains on them that appeared to be caused by blood constantly being on his teeth. He extended a hand, and Berkut took it firmly in his grasp.

"Thank you for allowing us to us the tunnel systems. The empire is thankful." Berkut said with as little politness that he could get away with.

"It is not a problem, my lords." Dolth replied, glancing at Alm with a strange glint in his eyes.

Alm fidgeted nervously before following Berkut into the tower. He glanced back, and he realized that Sonya, the girl that used to serve Greith, looked very uncomfortable with being here. Alm understood where she was coming from. He hated being here just as much.

"I will be leading you to the passages as they are quite difficult to navigate." Dolth said. Alm could have sworn that he saw red eyes glaring at him through the darkness.

They walked farther and farther up the stairs, ascending into the more private areas of Duma's tower.

"Why are we going up?" Berkut asked impatiantly as they followed Dolth up another flight of stairs.

"There is no way to get to the passages if you enter through the front way without going up." He explained.

Berkut huffed and they entered another set of doors. There was a large fire in the center of the chamber. A man, Alm recognized him as Jedah, stood next to Marla.

"Greetings my princes." Jedah said with a light bow, seemingly looking only at Alm, ignoring Berkut.

"To you as well, Jedah." Alm replied.

"We would like to proceed to the passageways now." Berkut lightly pushed Alm behind him, effectivelly guarding him from the cold gaze of Jedah's eyes.

"Ah, about that, we cannot allow you to leave." Jedah's eyes shone with an evil glint when he snapped his fingers, and dark, tendrils arose from the ground, and wrapped around all of their legs.

"Ah!" Rinea screamed in shock, with the others groans following behknd her voice as the darkness wrapped around all of them. With the exception of Alm. He was looking at the scene before him in shock before he turned to Jedah and demanded an explanation.

"It's simple, my prince. I need you to sacrifice your soul to Lord Duma, or else I shall kill all of your friends, and take your soul with force." The flames seemed to raise higher behind Jedah. "The choice is yours."

Alm glanced behind him. He saw his cousin and Rinea struggling looking at him with pleading eyes. "Don't do it, Alm!" Berkut commanded.

"We are not as important as tou, please don't sacrifice tourself to this god." Luthier grunted in pain.

"Your father would not wish for this to happen." Zeke told Alm as he too struggled against his confines.

"Please, we may not have known each other for very long, but I do know that nothing good comes from sefving the faithful." Sonya said.

Deen spoke next. "I may not know her experiences, but I do know that when she says not to do something, you don't do it."

"Milord, you cannot serve the faithful." Fernand said with an undying respect.

The others all had various words against Duma, but the words that Alm heard belonged to their captive, Mycen.

"I know of a girl, wait for her, she shall help you. In the meantime, don't give in to the darkness."

Alm did not understand this. About whom was he speaking of? What darkness? Was he talking about Lord Duma? Impossible. Alm had no more time to choose, for the mosters had begun to suffocate Rinea, and Alm made his choice.

"Jedah, will you let them all go free if I join you?" He asked.

Jedah chuckled. "But of course, Prince Albein. All of them shall be allowed to go free should you join us."

Alm clenched his fists, and muttered the next words he spoke. " _I'll join..._ " The words were so quiet that Almost everyone thought that they had heard incorrectly.

"What! No, Alm, you can't!" That was the most worried that Alm had ever seen Berkut. Rinea was beside him in tears. Mycen looked deeply troubled by Alm's choice, but ultimately accepting of it.

"Alm. Think carefully." Hestia suddenly said.

Marla glared at her sister. "Quiet, Hestia. The chosen one is making the right choice."

Before Alm had the chance to decipher Marla's words, Jedah spoke from in front of the fire.

"Now, My lord, take my offering!"

A purple flame shot out at Alm. The flame had a sinister aura to it, and Alm rose into the air, gasping and choking. The flames entered his body, consuming all that Alm was.

"AHHHHH!!!" Alm yelled out in pain as a loud, booming voice rang out in everyone's ears.

"Now, the time has come. It is time for I to rise again!" The voice was deafening by the end of his words, and Jedah took this opportunity to say,

"Now, begone with the rest of you. I have no need for you filth. Begone." With those last words spoken, the rest of Alm's party was banished from the room, falling into a deep, black void.

{Linebreak}

"Gahhh!" Celica screamed, shooting up from her cot in the Deliverance's war camp.

Lukas rushed in along with Clive and Tobin.

"Celica," Lukas began. "I heard a scream. What is wrong?" Lukas asked with concern.

Celica had a haunted look in her eyes, and she gazed at Lukas with terror fogging over her face.

"I... I had a dream. It was about that boy, the prince of Rigel, he... he was being possed by something. A god, I think. Mycen and Kliff were there, and the prince was being forced to do something. I think... I think that he's in trouble."

Lukas frowned. "Why were you dreaming aboit the prince of Rigel?"

Celica shook her head. "I don't know, but I just have this feeling that he is in terrible danger." Celica paused, and laughed. "I bet that I sound silly, don't I?" She shook her head again. "Ignore me. It's probably nothing. Come on, we have to go discuss our plan of attack with Clive."

Lukas narrowed his eyes with suspicion. "If you say so."

Celica smiled. "I do. Now, lets go."

AN

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please, tell me what you think. I really like to hear what you think.


	20. Chapter 20

"Surrender Rudolph!" Celica commanded as she once again clashed swords with the emporer. All that he did was smirk.

"No. I will live for the glory of Rigel." He calmly stated.

Celica screamed, swinging her sword to once again try to strike the emporer down. She was blocked again.

"Celica!" Mae screamed in worry when she exterminated another one of her enemies.

Celica attacked the man again, realizing that he had never attampted to strike her. All that he did was block her attacks.

"Why won't you attack?!" Celica frustratingly swung her sword again.

Rudolph narrowed his eyes. "You understand nothing."

Celica narrowed her eyes in return. "What do you know?"

"I know who you are, and I know what you must do."

Celica was surprised just long enough for Rudolph to capture her. He called all of his army to attention, capturing the attention of the Deliverance as well.

"Surrender, Deliverance, your leader has been captured. Lay down your weapons now, and come quietly."

They all glanced at one another, and they all simultaneously layer their weapons down. The Rigelian soldiers all lead the Deliverance into the dungeons.

Faye was crying in her cell with Silque, Delthea, and Claire in with her.

"It will all be okay," Claire said comfortingly. "The worst that they can do is execute us all and take back Zofia." This only made Faye cry harder. Lukas sighed.

"We need to think of a way out. Python," Said man looked up from his cell that he shared with Forsynth when Lukas called his name. "Are you any good at escaping?"

Python smirked. "As a matter of fact, I am. If anyone has a small piece of metal, then I can get us all out of here in a few minutes."

They all examined their persons, and Mae pulled out a small hair accessory from seemingly no where. "Here, I have one. Just... try to give it back to me. Okay?"

Python nodded, and Mae tossed the accessory across to him. He examined it, and he snuck his hand around to the front of the cell. He twisted it for a few minutes and soon enough, he and Forsynth were out of their cell. He proceeded to free Matilda's cell, which consisted of Tatiana, Leon, and Matilda. Then he freed all of the others.

"We need to find Celica." Lukas said once they were all freed.

"I think that she is still with Emporer Rudolph. They might be in the throne room." Mae told Lukas, who nodded and lead the group out of the cell and into the upper level. The guards were surprised to see the Deliverance marching in front of him, and Matilda swiftly knocked him out.

"Let's go. The throne room can't be too far away. We need to get there quickly." Matilda headed off into the presumed direction of the throne room.

When they got there after being confronted by a few guards, who had been swiftly knocked out, they saw she wasn't in the situation that the army had thought that she would be in, no. She was sitting there pleasantly speaking with Emperor Rudolph.

"Celica! What are you doing?!" Tobin and Gray shouted at once when they saw their friend speaking pleasantly with their worst enemy.

Celica turned towards the Deliverance, still smiling. "Oh! I was about to come and free you all. I have just been speaking to Emperor Rudolph, and I have decided that we will help him free his son, Alm."

The Deliverance looked at her like she was insane. They had all spoken various words of disagreement, but the main question was, "Why?".

"Silence!" Celica glared at her army. "Give me a chance to explain." Once everyone was completely silent, Celica began to speak.

"Emperor Rudolph has been. speaking to me, and he has revealed that I and his son are both a part of a great prophecy that states that there will be two heroes that will rise and save Valentia. There is a problem, however, his son, Alm, was captured by the faithful who plan to use his soul to enslave Valentia. He has asked us to travel to the tower to help save his son, or else all of Valentia would suffer for eternity." A long silence followed after Celica spoke. The entire Deliverance was absorbing the information that they had learned.

"How do we know that Emporer Rudolph isn't lying through his teeth?" Clive asked with a defining frown gracing his lips.

"Because when I fought Alm at Castle Zofia, he had the same birthmark as me, and I spoke with Mae and Boey earlier. They both said that this birthmark on my hand showed that I was one of the children mentioned in the prophecy."

The Deliverance accepted this, and they asked when they would be going to Duma Tower to save Alm.

"As soon as you all are ready." Rudolph said, speaking for the first time.

"We are ready." Celica answered immediately. "The longer that we wait, the more danger that they will all be in, and enemies or not, they just want to defend Rigel. And I find that honorable."

"This way. The tunnels that lead to the tower are this way." Rudolph lead the Deliverance downwards, and they came upon a set of large, heavy looking doors. Celica could feel the dark energy radiating from behind them.

Celica saw Grima beside her. He seemed to bask n the darkness that was flowing through the cracks in the old stone flooring.

"This is it."

The Deliverance all glanced at each other, silently asking if they were really going to do this. Celica strode forward, the Deliverance hesitantly following her. The guards opened the doors. The party surged forward, into the blackness that lead them to either their salvation, or their destruction.

AN

I AM SO EXCITED TO ALMOST BE DONE WITH THIS. I cannot wait until I get to work on other things. This will probably get easier to write as I predict that there are only like two chapters left. Until next time.


	21. Chapter 21

Celica and the Deliverance ran through the tunnels that ran underneath the Rigelian empire. They were nearing an area that was home to a large fire pit of sorts.

They had stopped to take a quick break when they all heard it. Footsteps. They were faint at first just a small click clack against the tiles in the tunnels, but they were coming nearer and nearer. Celica armed herself with her army following suit. They braced themselvea for a fight when they saw the figure come nearer.

She had short orange hair, and she wors a long black dress. She did not wear the mask that the other faithful had adorned, no. Instead all could see her lifeless eyes that looked glassy and cold. One foot in front of the other the figure walked, coming closer and closer to where the Deliverance stood. She stopped, just mere feet out of Celica's range.

"Hello, children of Zofia." Her emotionless voice said to the Deliverance. "We have been excpecting you."

Celica brandished her sword. "What do you want?" She asked gruffly.

"Follow me." The figure walked away, leading the Deliverance down the dimly lit hallway.

Celica glanced at the prople behind her, awaiting her commands. "Let's go."

Celica and crew followed the with down the winding paths, and into a large room where Celica could see the bones of a dragon through the cell bars. The dragon had two large horns protruding from it's skull. There was also a sword, impaled in the bones.

Celica rushed forward, aching to see if what she thought was true. She gripped the bars as her eyes widened in astonished horror. It was Mother Mila.

"No... It can't be..." Mae cried in despair from her place behind Celica.

'So this is why the fields have gone barren...' Celica thought grimly as Mae and Genny broke into tears.

"Ah, I see that you have finally arrived. We have been waiting for you."

Celica's head shot up to look at the man who had spoken. He appeared to be in his mid sixties, with dying purple toned skin and a manic grin adorning his face. He wore crimson red robes that displayed his status amongst the faithful. He was accompanied by a pink haired woman in a revealing outfit- even for the faithful.

"I missed you when you passed by my mountain," The woman spoke. "but I do recognize one of you, Tatiana, the wannabe saint."

Tatiana's eyes widened. "Nuibaba! Celica, she was the one who captured me, and she used me against my precious Zeke!"

"Ah, yes, you are just as ear grating as I had remembered you to be. Pitiful."

"Now, now, Nuibaba," Duma began. "Let's not antagonize the pitiful saint. We have more important things to do. Speaking of which, Alm, come out here."

As an immediate response to Duma's calling, the green- haired prince stepped out of the shadows. He moved like a possessed man with no ambition in his life. He moved to stand next to the orange- haired witch that led them to the room. Duma moved over to him to pet his head.

"See, Anthiese, this is what a _true_ servant to Duma looks like. Completely obedient and loyal." Duma turned to once again face Celica.

"It..." Celica thought back to the boy that she had fought so passionately at Zofia castle. Thia could not be the same person that she had fought just a few weeks earlier... Could he? "It is awful. How could you do that to anybody?!" Celica shouted, now enraged.

Jedah chuckled. "This will be you, should you join us. You could be great you know. You and Alm, alongside Duma, ruling all of Valentia, and soon, the entire world."

Celica glared at the man as her friends stood up for her. "Celica would never do that! She isn't like you _or_ your corrupted god!" Tobin yelled as Gray agreed with him.

"Yeah, she doesn't want to rule the world, so you and you god can leave her alone!" Faye shouted.

"Celica has a pure heart. She is a good person. Unlike you." Lukas said calmly. The rest of the Deliverance also readily agreed with them.

Jedah glared at them all. "Foolish children!" He shouted. "You do not understand the opportunity that you are giving up!"

Celica found her voice as she shouted at Jedah. "What opportunity?!" She screamed. "The opportunity to become a monster like you?" She paused for a moment, catching her breath before continuing. "We will win, and if you want me, you are going to have to take me by force!"

Nuibaba narrowed her eyes before leading Alm and the orange- haired witch away. Jedah followed them shortly after, but not before saying his parting words.

"We will defeat you, Anthiese, and you will live to regret not accepting our generous offer when all of your friends are dead and rotting in the ground!" Her disappeared in a flourish, leaving the Deliverance to proceed through he tunnels, closer to the corrupted god that they had to destroy.

"Well," Saber began. "Let's get going. That god isn't going to destroy itself."

"Y- yeah!" Genny stuttered. "We can do this!"

Therefore, the Deliverance proceeded to their final destination.

{Linebreak}

"Augh!" Berkut cried out as more Risen attacked them. "Rinea, behind you!"

Rinea spun on her heel, and she attacked the eyeball that had duplicated behind her. Luthier attacked the other two that were there. All of the people that had sided with Alm were being cornered in the tunnels beneath Rigel. They had been transported there after Duma had corrupted Alm.

"Quick!" Zeke shouted, rushing forward. "There is an opening, let's go!"

They all surged through the opening and through the double doors that led them to a different room.

AN

I don't really have anything to say, so I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and I hope that you have a lovely day.


	22. Chapter 22

"Hurry up!" Celica shouted as they all ran from the cantors that were chasing them. "We can't let them catch us!"

They were all running out of breath as they dashed down the hallway that looked the same as all the others. They were beginning to lose most of the cantors and witches that were following them, and they were quickly approaching the next set of doors. Celica kicked the doors open to many locked prison cells. The Deliverance moved quickly to blockade the doors with barrels that they had found in the corner before facing the prisoners.

Celica recognized some of them, such as the brunette male that had a scowl on his face. Celica also recognized the orange haired male mage and the blue haired saint. There were others that Celica could not name and did not recognize. They all looked up when Celica approached the cells.

"You're the leader of the Deliverance." The brown haired man - Berkut, Celica had believed his name was - said with a scowl as he was remembering a foul moment. "Are you here to execute us?"

Celica's eyes widened. "No! We are here to free you, and save Prince Alm." Lukas walked up to Celica with an old rusty key. Celica took the key and unlocked the cell. Berkut looked suspicious but seemed to calm when the blue- haired saint was released.

Berkut kissed the woman passionately, and he thanked Celica for freeing them.

"Now," Berkut began once they had separated. "why is the Deliverance here to save my cousin?"

Celica began to explain. "Well, Emperor Rudolph had defeated us when we reached the castle, and he told us about the legend. He said that Alm and I were the two mentioned in the legend, and he also told us that Alm had been captured by the faithful. Now we are here to free Alm and save Valentia."

Berkut was silent as he took in what Celica had said. He finally accepted it when he talked it over with the blue- haired woman who introduced herself as Rinea.

"Celica, we have found a passageway that will allow us to proceed without running into more faithful." Lukas told Celica, and the Deliverance continued forward.

They continued walking forward, Tatiana was speaking with Zeke, Delthea had been reunited with her brother, and all of the others were beginning to talk and mingle, as if they weren't likely marching towards their deaths.

"Umm... Miss Celica?" Grima walked forward to speak with Celica.

Celica looked at the small child. "Yes? What is it?"

He shuffled around nervously. "I was wondering if you really think that I will find my father here."

Celica smiled sadly. "I'm not sure, but I do think that they are still here." The child smiled happily when he heard Celica say this and skipped away.

The Deliverance marched further down the dark and dreary halls. They had found a way out of the under tunnels that they entered and they were now closing in on the area that Mila was killed on. Celica got a terrible feeling as she neared the area. She could tell that all of the others, Excluding Grima, also felt the same terrible feeling that she did. As they entered the area, Celica saw what had caused such unrest.

Celica saw the Falchion, no longer impaled in Mila's skull, in Alm's hands. The boy had evil, purple flames flowing off of him, and cascading off of him onto the floor. Berkut, eyes wide with horror, slowly took a few steps forward before being pulled back by Rinea.

"No, Berkut." Zeke began to help Rinea restrain Berkut. "That isn't Alm anymore, he isn't in his right state of mind!"

As they were talking, a deep, threatening chuckled sounded from the sidelines.

"Well, children, I am surprised to see that you have made it this far." Jedah said as he stepped out of the darkness and into the light. "But, this stops here. You will either hand Princess Anthiese over to us or else we will kill all of you. You have to decide. Now." As he said this Alm and two witches walked to stand beside Jedah.

The Deliverance and the Rigelians all glanced at one another before simultaneously pulling out their weapons, preparing for a fight. Jedah narrowed his eyes when he saw them do this. Celica stepped forward as she felt an even darker presence enter the chamber, seeming to make the area have an even darker feel to it than when it was just Alm. Celica and the others all glanced around them, trying to determine where the evil feeling was coming from. Then, they saw it.

The god of Rigel, Duma.

It was a large, hulking dragon that appeared to have come from nowhere and everywhere. The actual body was a dark purple, and Celica had no idea how powerful the fallen deity really was. The god loomed over them all, seeming especially attracted to Celica and Grima. Celica noticed this and guarded Grima behind her back.

"Oh mighty Lord Duma!" Jedah was now facing the dark god. "You have awakened at last!"

Nuibaba entered the now even darker chambers. "Anthiese..." She approached Celica. "Will you join us? Will you choose to serve Lord Duma?" Nuibaba pulled out two prisoners that were previously hidden. "Or," She pulled them both forward to reveal two frighteningly familiar faces. "Will you allow these two to be killed in vain?" She pulled out a sacrificial dagger to the first person's chest. The two faces were Kliff and Mycen's.

Celica briefly met Nuibaba's cold gaze when she saw the prisoners, before turning to look at her friends. Tobin and Gray's expressions of worry and concern over Kliff and Celica, Faye's slight trembling as she watched Celica's reaction to the prisoners, Mae and Boey's now frightened faces, and Genny's face that seemed to be near crying. Celica looked to the other side. Clive, Mathilda and Claire's expressions of outright terror and shock, Python and Forsynth's faces displaying shock at the form of the god in front of them. Celica looked at the rest of her friends. Delthea, Silque, Tatiana, Saber, Valbar, Leon, and Kamui. All of them were showing various faces of fright. Lukas met Celica's gaze with determination, and a look that showed he would accept whatever she chose to do. Celica nodded at him, and then she examined the Rigelian's various faces of acceptance and loathing. Celica turned back to two of the most important people in her life.

Kliff and Mycen both looked to be worse for wear, clothes ragged and filthy, hair matted with sweat and grime. Celica desperately wished to save them, but she knew what she had to do. She had to live for her current friends.

"We will never bow to you. We will never serve such a corrupted god." Celica rushed forwards as dozens of faithful flowed out from the sides, surrounding Alm, the two witches, and Jedah. Nuibaba scowled as she shoved the knife into Kliff's chest, making him collapse. She then proceeded to do the same with Mycen.

Tobin charged forward with tears glistening in his eyes, and stabbed Nuibaba right through her cold and frozen heart. All of the Deliverance and the Rigelians rushed forward to fight anyone that they could find. Celica charged straight for Jedah, intending to end him as soon as she could. Berkut joined her with Rinea tailing behind him. They both wished to free Alm from Duma's clutches as soon as possible. Celica rushed forward when she saw Jedah. Celica jumped up, trying to strike at the man's head. He blocked her and struck back with his death magic. Celica dodged and with a timely intervention from Rinea, Jedah was slaughtered.

"Father!" The witch with the dusty purple hair screamed as she watched Jedah fall. Berkut glared at her, and began to fight her, with Rinea soon joining him. The two of them together were too much for the witch to handle, and she soon fell to their combined might. The duo rushed to Alm, but they were stopped by Hestia, The orange haired witch with the short hair. She guarded Alm from the prince, and she teleported away from the battlefield with Alm in tow.

Celica charged at Duma, slicing him with her sword. She was now joined by the majority of her army as they had all finished their battles with various members of the Duma faithful. They all attacked Duma with all that they had, but the deity would not fall. Celica was getting frustrated just as she remembered what had killed Mila.

The legendary Falchion.

The one that was in Alm's, the corrupted prince's, hands.

Celica grunted in frustration when she was hit with another blast of Duma's powers. She had to figure out how to get that blade from Alm, but it would be an impossible task for she had no idea where they had even went.

Just as she was about to accept this as a lost cause, another dragon flew up to fight Duma. Celica's eyes widened when she realized what was happening. She recalled her army so that they wouldn't get in the way of the two battling dragons. At first she thought that it was Mother Mila, but then she looked over and saw that the bones were just as they were before, dead and lifeless. She turned back to the two battling beings, and she realized that the one that had come to aide them was becoming smaller. Her eyes widened when she realized that the dragon became Grima. He looked far more tired than he was when the battle had began, but Celica supposed that would happen when you had just battled a literal god.

She ran to Grima and held him.

"Are you okay?" Celica asked with concern.

Grima blearily looked up at Celica and smiled. "I am fine... Just tired, I haven't used that much of my powers in a really, really long time..." Grima yawned as he said this.

Celica smiled as he said his. "Then you just rest, you have done more than enough." Grima smiled in response and laid his head down to rest.

Then, Hestia teleported back into the chambers with an un- possesed Alm with her. Alm looked a little disoriented, and he was unsteady on his feet, but Celica realized that now that Alm was back he could slay Duma with Falchion.

"Alm!" Berkut screamed as he ran up to Alm. "It is good to have you back, but we need you to slay Duma with Falcjion!"

Alm nodded his head and rushed Duma. He pulled out the Falchion and attempted to slice Duma. The god had been severely weakened by Grima's earlier attacks. So, when Alm reached Duma, the god was slow and sluggish. Falchion easily sliced through the god's flesh, and with that, Duma was gone.

All seemed to still once the god was slain. The air seemed to clear, the light appeared to flow into the previously dark chambers, and life seemed to start anew. The entire army cheered for the evil god was slain. Celica was smiling when in the heat of the moment, Lukas kissed her. It didn't have tongue or anything, but it was still a shock to Celica. The kiss lasted for a few moments until Lukas appeared to have noticed what he had done and separated from Celica. He was blushing when he had pulled away.

"I... I am so sorry, Celica. It was in the heat of the moment, and I don't know what I was thinking!" Lukas stuttered with a furious blush adorning his cheeks. Celica smiled though and hugged Lukas before kissing him.

"Well, well." A mocking vvoice called. "Look who has finally found a boyfriend."

Celica parted from Lukas and turned to see Kliff standing beside Mycen. Her eyes watered when she saw them.

"You're... You're alive!" Celica exclaimed in shock. She ran up and hugged them both happily.

"I... I healed them right before I started fighting." Genny began to explain to the army. "I saw that Nuibaba was not very adept with a knife, so I knew that she had most likely avoided hitting anything too major. But, I also knew that they would have bled out if I hadn't done anything to help them."

"Yeah, thanks for that." Kliff thanked Genny.

"Yes, I thank you as well." Mycen said.

"Ugghhhh..." Grima groaned from where he was still sleeping. Celica walked over to him.

There was more partying until Boey noticed something. "Hey, why is that witch still here?"

They had all ignored her until they realized how strange it was that she was still here. They were beginning to ask her questions until Alm vouched for her.

"Don't hurt her! She is the reason that I had snapped out of my possession. If it weren't for her then I would still be Duma's puppet." Alm explained.

"Oh. That makes sense thanks, Hestia." Rinea said as Berkut narrowed his eyes.

"Wait," Berkut used his most suspicious voice that he had. "What exactly did she do to free you from Duma's control?" They both blushed when Berkut had asked this, for they knew that if anyone found out what they had done, they would both be teased for all of eternity.

"It was nothing. She just... Talked some sense into me." Alm explained. Berkut didn't believe it for a second.

"Suuuurrrre, I bet that's what happened." Berkut teased.

"Come on. Let's go back home. I'm sure that father is worried for me." Alm said as Celica walked back over to them with Grima.

"Huh? You're that kid that we saw near that village." Alm realized. "What are you doing here?"

"I am a manakete, but I had lost my memories for some reason that I cannot remember. I was wandering around until you guys found me. Then I was taken with Celica's army to Duma's tower to find my father."

"Did you find your father?" Tobin asked.

Grima sighed unhappily. "Yes... It was Duma."

"What!" Celica exclaimed. "How?"

"Only gods can create manaketes, and I only knew that my father lived in Duma tower. Therefore, I knew that the only contender to be my father was Duma." Grima told them.

They all thought it over. "Wait, then who the hell is your mother?" Tobin asked.

Grima frowned. "I... I am not sure. I only think that one of your parents has to be a god to become a manakete."

"Whelp," Gray began to speak once Grima was done speaking. "Let's go back to the castle."

"Yeah."

{Linebreak}

"Alm, my son." Rudolph greeted Alm once they had gotten back to the castle.

Alm ran up and hugged his father. "Father, it is good to see you again after all this time."

"You as well." Rudolph replied, hugging his son back.

"Oh Uncle!" Berkut called as he walked down the hallway with Rinea at his side. "I believe that we have a royal wedding to plan!"

Rudolph narrowed his eyes. "Oh, I see. So you have finally decided on a day to wed Rinea?"

"No. But, my dearest younger cousin has forged a strong relationship with Hestia whilst they were _alone_ in the tower together. With nobody to disturbe them in whatever they had done to free Alm from Duma's control."

"Exactly what have you done with miss Hestia, Alm?" Rudolph questioned his now beet red son.

"Nothing!" Alm insisted. "Berkut is just being a jerk..."

"Okay then, now, let us plan for yours and miss Rinea's wedding, Berkut." Rudolph responded.

"Okay!" Rinea said cheerfully as Berkut also agreed.

"Very well then. Let us go discuss the details."

{Linbreak}

\- One Year Later -

"It's nice to see you again!" Celica said as she greeted Alm happily.

"You too." Alm replied. The two of them had become quite close after the war was over.

"How has Hestia been?" Celica asked Alm.

She has been well, how about Lukas?"

"He has taken to the title of ruler nicely. He is very fair and kind to all of our people." Celica said with stars in her eyes.

Alm sighed. "I wish that my people would accept Hestia. They all still remember the atrocities that the faithful had committed, and they are refusing to accept that she has changed."

"That is awful. How are Berkut and Rinea doing?" Celica asked.

"They are expecting their first child, and they already have a retainer picked out." Alm said.

"That was quick. Who have they picked as a retainer?"

"A Zofian named Atlas. Apparently he needed money and he tried out for the position. He was the best one there."

"It is nice to see that a Zofian will be a Rigelian heir's guardian."

"Yeah."

With that, they continued to catch up, and their friendship continued to grow stronger until the day that they were declared best friends by all that they knew.

AN

This is finally done. I hope that you enjoyed it. This was my first fanfiction, and I will probably end up editing it in a few years time. Who knows. I am sorry if this seemed a little rushed, but I really wanted to be done quickly. If anyone has any questions, then please ask me. I don't bite over the internet. My next story will probably be something from fates. Until next time.


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